The Inner Path: When Sunday Comes!

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When Sunday comes and you get ready to rejuvenate your spirit by going to church to draw near to God with a sincere heart, be aware that people don't all go there for the purpose of meeting with God, or for the purpose of listening to messages that would impart their lives positively. There are many reasons why people go to church, some go in order to follow God's directives and to worship him in holiness. Others go for their own selfish motives, just to please themselves; not minding what God thinks of them. Now, why you're pondering the reason you go to church, here are just some reasons people go to church:

1. To genuinely seek God: There are genuine seekers of God who come to the church because they feel that it's the right place to meet with God. They come with contrite hearts... ready to do whatever would bring them into a better fellowship with Him. They listen to what the pastor says, compare it with the scripture, and allow it to impart their lives positively. Their primary reason for being there is because they need a change in their lives. These are the true followers/worshipers of God.
2. To enjoy the music: Yes. there are those who come to enjoy good, melodious music; they don't study the word of God. Sundays, as they prepare for service, may be the only time they remember to pick up their bible.
3. To honor family tradition: Some people, especially those still under their parents' control, just come in order to honor their parents tradition of going to Church. It could be that they want their parents to see them as good and obedient children, so they could get what they want.
4. To socialize: Some see the church as a place to socialize and make friends; so going there would give them the ample opportunity to get good friends. I would call this fellowship, but if your motive is to socialize to further your business or money-making agenda, then that's not making good friends.
5. To seek a partner: How about if you believe the best place to get a genuine life partner is the church. If so then you're there primarily to look for a wife or husband and may not have a place in your heart for the word of God to dwell. Yes, because once you get what you want... you leave. It may be some time later that you realize that the person you found in church had the same motive as you and have no word of God in them either.... ending up in a counterfeit relationship.
6. To model their fashions: Many of the fashionistas and fashionmisters come just to display their latest fashion...so conscious of their wears; quality, cost and style, that the Holy Spirit hardly flow during worship service because they don't want their clothes stained or ruffled.
7. To represent the devil: I hope you realize that not everybody in the church is there in the interest of the edifying God, church, the pastor or the members.  Some people are in church because they're assigned by the devil to actually destroy the church. They sit neatly on the seats and pretend to listen to the sermon or enjoy the music, but their minds are bent on evil. There are many ways to do this; make negative comments about the church, pastor or members, to others, write negative things about the church, etc...you get the message.

Therefore, you should never be surprised when you see the good, the bad and the ugly there, for there are many reasons people go to Church on Sunday, or any day, if you will.  What you should do is diligently seek, authentically so, the reason you're there and concentrate on what brought you. What this means therefore, is that people should not be too quick to condemn a church when a supposed member does anything funny or suspect, because not everyone in the church is a genuine member. Not everyone there is a genuine Christian. As the word of Jesus Christ said in Matthew 7:16, 'By their fruits you shall know them...'. Those who are true worshipers are refined, decent, respectful, God-fearing, obedient, loving and compassionate people. So when Sunday comes, draw near to God with a sincere heart and encourage one another on toward love and good deeds....happy Sunday!