24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good
deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but
encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Christianity is not a faith which God intended to be lived out alone.
Encouraging others and being encouraged by others are both essential to the life
of a believer. The word church when taken back to its roots means “assembly.” It was an assembly of believers. Not a building, not a place; but the people in the assembly.
In our world we have made the word “Church” into a building. We have
made the “assembly” of Christians into a disassembly of personal beliefs. With the
inventions of the internet and mobile communications we have disassembled
even farther. As we watch services on TV, as we listen to radio broadcasts, as we
say we are being the church from our living rooms or a million other places; we
are missing the reason “Assembly” was called for. Nothing will take the place of a
personal “Hello” or a “How Ya Doing”. Nothing can take the place of a hug in a
time of sorrow. Nothing can replace a smile in person.
If we are going to teach our children what life is about, we need to live that
life with them. Our youth get lost in the impersonal, dangerous, ever consuming
pressures of “Social Media”, sports, and academics they don’t get the childhood
they need to grow. Remember church will only be important to our youth, if they
get to see what it is about. I pray we as adults don’t take that experience away
because of our indifferences or opinions. When the line is used “I will let them
decide for themselves” remember the world is not as easy. The world will
convince them of what ever it is trying to sell at the time. It will bombard them
with information until they conform to its plan.
Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, may we come together and
celebrate that with our families often.
Just My Thoughts
Pastor Scott