| March
10, 2007
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Some people who don’t attend church
feel guilty about it. When asked about it, they look sheepish
and say they know they should. My response is that it isn’t
necessary to attend church to have a relationship with God.
Over the centuries, times of bitter persecution against
Christians made gathering together impossible. Yet their
relationship with the Lord was even more precious because
a relationship with God is a personal matter.
Church gatherings are designed to foster the relationship;
they can never create it. Hence the question of our relationship
with the Lord can be settled apart from church attendance
altogether. This leaves us with the question, do I have
a personal relationship with the Lord and do I need it?
Friendship with God is enjoyable at any time, but it is
absolutely necessary in the dark days that overshadow all
of us from time to time. King David had many such experiences
and those painful times gave birth to many of the Psalms
that are so comforting to us today.
There were days when he felt so shaken that he knew he needed
something solid under his feet. Speaking of such times,
David wrote: “For in the time of trouble He shall
hide me in His pavilion: in the secret of His tabernacle
shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock”
Psalm 27:5.
King David was often on the run from enemies in the tumultuous
times in which he lived. Thus he was many miles from God’s
house. But He always had access to God. We can too! On one
occasion he was in the wilderness of Judah. As he viewed
this wasteland, he states: “O God, Thou art my God;
early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh
longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water
is” Psalm 63:1.
Gatherings of any kind where people with common interests
can share their experiences are very helpful. Hence we have
service clubs, camera clubs, gatherings for bird-watching,
etc. Church gatherings should be the same. But we stress
that these are adjuncts to personal Christian experience.
And we come back to the question, do I have a personal relationship
with God?
Jim Beattie,
submitted by Russ Nesbit
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