Excuses

Several things pinging around my head I want to write about. Deciding which will be first is the great decision. Here goes. Warning! This may be offensive to some.

Does your church have revival services? I know not all churches do, but especially in the south usually a couple of times a year we have at least 4-5 consecutive services with a guest speaker. It is a time for us to refocus, rededicate ourselves to God and to living for Him. We are not a huge church. We have a seating capacity of 665 people, about 200 more than we average on Sundays. So we have room to grow. Tonight we had our last of 4 services for this series. The messages were great. Spirit filled and definitely what we needed to hear.

When I was a teenager (long, long time ago) revivals were popular. The host church had almost all its members present and area churches attended on the nights they weren't having services. At 64 years old, I have seen revival attendance dwindle to less and less. There are many legitimate reasons people miss a service or two. Sickness, work schedule. some who can't get out at night because of age, etc. However, there are many who can attend, but choose not to. For weeks leading up to this series of meetings, we learned of the great revivals in the United States, England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland in the past centuries. Unfortunately, there has not been a repeat of those services for 200 years.

I looked around the church each night, thankful for those who were there and yet wondering where the others were. Again, many had legitimate reasons they could not attend, but what of all the others? I don't mean to sound judgmental, but I was saddened. I thought of all the excuses people use, many I have also used at one time or another myself. So I am not guilt free in this. "I worked all day and I was really tired." "It was so cold I didn't want to get out." (And it was cold the past 2 nights). Can you imagine telling your employer that it was just too cold to go to work? Or that you were out late at a party and didn't feel like coming to work? Feel pretty certain no one would try that. I have a friend that says why not just say "peanut butter, because one excuse is as good as another". He doesn't really mean to use that; he's just making his point. Pretty good one. How many sit on bleachers, wrapped in blankets to watch a football game? How many go out to dinner with friends after a long hard day at work? Do you see where I am coming from? I am not talking to the unsaved. I am talking to people who profess Christ as their Lord and Savior. Do we have the right to ask why our children don't want to go to church, when we don't make an effort to be there ourselves? Please do not think that I believe every wayward child is the fault of the parent. I know better than that. I also know we should take every opportunity to be the example God expects. I think we have a real priority problem. That means there is a heart problem. Not a physical one, but a spiritual one.

I believe the American church as a whole has this priority problem. Churches in hostile nations seem to thrive in the face of persecution. They would love to have the freedom to meet publicly any time they could. We have the freedom but do not exercise it. So until you are willing to truly return to God, back to where it all began, what is your excuse?