We should want to assemble with the saints to fellowship, learn, encourage and worship. Our attitude should be like David’s, “I was glad when they said to me, Let us go into the house of the Lord” (Ps 122:1). In today’s vernacular we would say, I was glad when they said to me let’s go to church. This should be our desire, but we also must understand that faithful attending the worship service of the Lord’s church is a God given command. The Hebrew writer tells us, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the habit of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb 10:24-25). We see in this text that we should assemble with the saints to worship, but we also see that it is the habit of some to neglect this. Bad habits are easy to form and hard to break, but I think if we consider the seriousness of this bad habit we will be moved to break it. The seriousness of it can be seen in the very next verse that we often don’t read. It says, “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries” (Heb 10:26). Any unrepented and uncleansed sin will cause us to lose our soul, but in this particular context the sin of neglecting the worship is being addressed.
I want to encourage you to be faithful in your attendance because it’s just that important. I also want the parents to consider these shocking statistics:
- Both parents faithful and active – 93% kids faithful
- 1 parent faithful and active – 73% kids faithful
- Both parents a little active – 53% kids faithful
- Both parents attend some but inactive – 6% kids faithful
What are the chances of your children being faithful Christians? No stronger lever than your faithfulness determines that.