Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Psalm 122:1 I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go into the house of the LORD."
WHY BELIEVERS GATHER ...
There is an oft told story of a man who had not been to church for some time. One winter's evening the man's pastor stopped by to see if everything was okay. When he arrived, the man allowed the pastor into his home without exchanging more than a few words. The two sat there quietly in the man's living room warming themselves by a fire of coals the man had piled in his fireplace. After a few minutes had passed between them, the man broke the silence and said, "I suppose you are here pastor because I haven't been to church for a while now." The pastor listened kindly as the man continued, "But I don't feel I have to attend church each week; I know what I believe and I don't think I need to go sit in church every Sunday to be a Christian."
When the man had finished, the pastor said nothing, but slowly stood up. He stepped lightly over to the coals burning in the fireplace. Without saying a word, he gently took the fire poker off the rack and carefully stoked the fire. Both watched as all the coals burned brightly together. Then, the man watched as the pastor took the brightest coal from the pile and moved it off to the side by itself in the fireplace. After this the pastor went and sat down and watched the hot coal by itself. In the next few minutes both watched as the single coal darkened to a dim glow, to a smoldering ember, and finally to a cold, partly burned cinder. The pastor finally spoke, "As long as that coal remained with the rest, it continued to live and glow. Alone, it cooled and died. So too will the believer's faith die who neglects hearing the Word of God and joining together with fellow believers." The pastor continued, "My dear friend, we are glad to go to the house of our Lord because that's where our faith is kindled, where praise and thanks to God with other Christians enriches our lives and keeps our faith glowing, burning brightly for the glory of our Savior Jesus Christ."
-- Adapted from the Vacation Bible School series "A Day in the Courts of the LORD"
