The Dearest Place on Earth

Sorry it's been a couple of weeks, but I actually had some vacation! Anyway, now that I'm back, here is this week's piece. It's about the church, as you can tell.

What’s the best day of the week? Monday, when many folks go back to work? Probably not. How about Friday, when the work week draws to a close for many and the weekend begins? More people would probably say Friday is the best day of the week than Monday.

I wonder how many would say Sunday is the best day of the week.

Just this morning I had a conversation with a member of the church I am blessed to serve, the topic of which was “the weekend.” She lamented how much time Americans waste through the week wishing the weekend would come. Somehow we have come to misunderstand Saturday and Sunday as the days that belong to us for us to do with what we will.

I got to thinking about what Sunday should mean in the life of every Christian. Saturday is the day to get ready for Sunday, to make our emotional, spiritual and physical preparations for the following morning. Way back in college days, before I was pastor, my friend and mentor Bill Mowrey told me, “John, a good Sunday morning begins with a proper Saturday evening.”

What Bill was trying to get across is that Sunday is too important for Christians to let the day simply sneak up on us. We need to prepare our hearts to receive God’s Word, just as surely as the pastor needs to prepare the message to impart God’s Word.

Sunday is the day set apart for the gathering of God’s people to worship Him, hear from Him, and encourage one another by our love. It’s the day to celebrate the mutual miracle of our salvation. It’s homecoming day. It’s family reunion time, when we see again the folks we’re related to by the blood of Christ. It’s the day we are blessed to rejoin with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and rejoice in the manifold evidences of grace we see in the family.

Evidences of grace like these. Last Sunday I saw a new widow praising God exuberantly as we sang to Him, “Here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down.” I saw a middle aged couple who had brought a young husband and wife to worship with them. I watched a college student hug an octogenarian. These were just three of the many dozens of such evidences of grace I saw last Sunday. And I’ll see dozens more day after tomorrow! And so will you, if you go to church with your eyes open.

Nineteenth century British pastor Charles Spurgeon called the church “the dearest place on earth.” I am convinced from scripture and experience that he was right. That’s where God gathers His family under the banner of His love, and shows them the evidences of His grace.

When you go to church this Sunday, will you be looking for evidences of God’s grace? If so, you will discover what Spurgeon said is true: it is, indeed, the dearest place on earth.