It’s Saturday night and I’m writing this article thinking about tomorrow. Sunday. The day that all of God’s people get together to worship Him and share with one another in faith, hope, and love. It is the first day of every week. There are 52 of them in the year. God’s Word is studied and shared. Voices are raised up in song. Jesus is especially remembered in the Lord’s Supper. We greet one another and we say goodbye to each other. It is to be a time of rejoicing and praising the Lord. A great time. A happy time. An exciting time. Full of heart and energy. But is that how we are going to feel tomorrow? Is that how I look at every Sunday?
From stories I’ve heard, things I’ve seen, and even times I’ve caught myself I find that having the right focus on Sunday can be a challenge. And that is sad. We have busy lives. We spend Monday through Friday working. Saturday brings a welcome break. And Sunday is also a day off from work. But Sunday is also the day of worship and “going to church.” This can cause folks to not be all that interested in going to church. They’d rather spend Sunday doing their own thing. They’d rather use their time relaxing and enjoying whatever it is they do. At times we might go to class and worship but we feel like it takes time out of our day. We’d rather sleep in. We want to finish our one hour of worship so that we can go get lunch and enjoy our afternoon at home or in the yard. Some might even go to evening worship if they get around to it. But sometimes they don’t really want to. Some can feel services are long. We dare not go over 60 minutes. Or we complain. Class is boring. The preacher preaches too long. We have to sing. Just take the Lord’s Supper and let’s get on with our day. Worship becomes wearisome. A hassle. It is something we groan about instead of looking forward to. Sometimes someone may even be “too busy” to go to worship. Too busy having fun or too busy working. Worship is just not a priority.
That is not the way we are to view Sunday and worship. That is not pleasing to God. If we love God with all our heart and we are truly thankful for Jesus’ sacrifice, then we will make sure we don’t have that kind of attitude. God is our awesome Creator! God is our loving Father! Jesus is our amazing Savior! When we know that and really understand it then we will rejoice. We will sing from our hearts. We will be excited and humbled by the fact that we get to come into God’s presence and worship Him. We will feel so unworthy to partake of the Lord’s Supper while at the same time feel the great joy of salvation that Jesus has brought to us. Who am I that I get to pray to God? I get to sing to God. I get to read God’s Word. I get to spend time with my brethren. It is the best day of the week. It is the best way to start our week. It is what we should look forward to through every week.
If we ever find ourselves feeling wearied by Sunday, if we’re ever too busy or too tired, then let’s go spend some time at the feet of Jesus on the cross. Was Jesus too busy to die for you? Was Jesus ever too tired to save us from our sins? Sometimes we complain about having to be at church for an hour or two. But think about this: Jesus hung on the cross by His hands and feet for SIX HOURS. Jesus was humiliated for us. He suffered for us. He died for us. And here we are too tired and too busy to worship Him. We can only give up so much of our precious time on Sunday. We dare not spend too much time at worship. Jesus left Heaven and came to this earth. He lived life as a man and a poor one at that. He gave everything to make it possible for us to be saved. He died for you. He died for me. HE SUFFERED AND DIED A HORRIBLE DEATH. So how do we feel about Sunday? How do you feel about Sunday? Is it a hassle? Is it boring? Are you too tired or too busy to worship God? Or is Sunday the best day of your week? Do you get excited about worship? Does it fill you with joy? Tomorrow is Sunday. Are you ready? Where will you be? What will you be thinking and feeling? God gave everything for us. Let’s make sure we’re giving our everything to Him.
A Cord of Blue 