Why Bother Coming?

Why bother coming to worship anyway?

It’s the whisper that slips into our minds. It’s not that we don’t love God or that we don’t mean well – but sometimes (often!), it’s hard. Perhaps we have small children – they wriggle and fuss, they have to be taken out and disciplined, rocked and fed. Perhaps we have terrible health – our body is wracked in pain and we feel weak and weary. Perhaps we carry a heavy burden on our heart –  dealing with anxiety, trials, grief, and hurt. Perhaps, it’s something else altogether. But, beloved, whatever you and I are dealing with, whatever circumstance we are enduring, worship is the very place we need to be! It is the only place we can find what we need, because instead of human endeavors and solutions, we come into the presence of God. Here is a short list of reasons that help me remember why I go to worship.

Because God told me to

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! ~Psalm 95:6

Yes, going to worship can be hard – but so is exercise, so is eating vegetables, so is just about anything else that’s good and worthwhile! And worship is the most worthwhile thing we will ever do.

Because my kids need me to live out the things I teach them

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up ~ Deuteronomy 6:4-7

Where should our love and the commands of God be? On our hearts. We cannot teach our children something that we don’t really believe ourselves!  And if I tell my kids worship, God and obedience to Him is important, I have to live as if I mean it! (we do mean it, right?)

Because things are always better when we draw near to God

For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. ~Psalm 84:10

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. ~ James 4:8a

Though the devil will try to trick us, there is nothing better than being in the presence of God.

Because worship changes me – for the better

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. ~ Romans 12:1-2

There’s nothing quite like worship for a perspective change – prayers, hymns, communion, teaching, fellowship. Worshiping God is like a blood transfusion, except instead of red liquid, we pour out all of ourselves – our dregs and broken pieces, the sacrifice and offering of our innermost beings, our highest love – and in return we receive Christ’s blood which cleanses and restores us.

So this Sunday, whatever is discouraging you, whatever is burdening you, whatever is hard, will you come with me to worship Him together? There’s nothing more important we could do.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash