Challenges & Conversations (02/16/16)

To enjoy a ballgame at the park, you have to see it.  You can't see it when your line of sight is obstructed repeatedly.

That awkward moment when the person in seat 8 in the middle of the row stands up and squeezes past 7 people to get to the stairs.  You know that what squeezed in front of you to exit your row must squeeze in front of you to re-enter.  Then you will get distracted a second time.

If that scenario happened once during the ballgame, you would be fortunate. Fan movement, however, is both inevitable and continual.  It is likely that every person in your row will get up at least once.  Okay, you're a patient fan.  You can handle that.  Some people get up twice. You're starting to feel a bit agitated.  Then there are the "special few." They should've stayed home, since they have no clue what's happening on the field and they have no sense of courtesy to their fellow fans.  Of course, this is America. These present-yet-wandering ticket holders have the right to walk around, get in your way, or miss most of the game.  The problem is that they are starting to ruin the game for you.

I'm concerned that church services are going the way of baseball games.  What movement in and out of the sanctuary!  Do you realize what a distraction you are when you stand up, walk out and walk back in?  If you insist on being highly mobile, how come you don't sit in the back?  Does the Guest of Honor no longer matter?  I mean, you seem quite comfortable randomly getting up and walking out on Him.

The culprit is lack of reverence.  You sing to the King, welcome the King, and say that you want the King to remain.  Then you can easily get up and walk out on Him?  Usually that is during His time to speak to you (a.k.a. the sermon).  Obviously, our understanding of "King" is flawed.

If Jesus were really King in your life and that is what you truly believed, there is no way you would miss even one minute away from Him.  May the fear of the Lord return to His people!  Then and only then will the needless, distracting movement cease.