Heart Preparations

Last night the weather was beautiful, so many of us stood outside our log cabin church and fellowshipped prior to the service.  That’s always been something that I’ve found to be a plus in the Christian life right before and even after worship !  But suddenly there was a new loud noise that interrupted us all as a young couple whizzed into the parking lot on a motorcycle.  Then it dawned on me, this was a couple I’d been working on getting to church for a while now and they showed up together for the first time !!

As I excused myself from the group of guys I was chatting with, I sauntered down to the parking lot to greet our visitors and as they were getting off the bike, the wife was slightly perturbed about something. I’d never seen her quite this way, so I asked what was wrong and she said “Look at me !  My husband just said ‘C’mon we’re going to church tonight’ and I have holes in my jeans and now my hair is all a mess from riding the motorcycle ! This is no way to come to church.”     So I looked at her and smiled and said “Isn’t this what you wanted? To finally get your husband to come with you ?” So I whipped out my comb and handed it to her and said, “Here’s a comb for your hair to straighten that up with and don’t let Satan get the best of you now, now that you are BOTH here,  let’s all determine to enjoy the service tonight and have good attitudes !”

She looked at me, gave me a smile and said, “You’re right, ok !”   As I was preaching later, there they sat with her leaning into her husband affectionately listening to the Bible being taught.     How do YOU typically come to church?   I was glad they were there and I appreciated her desire to be dressed respectfully for God’s house and understood her disappointment she wasn’t given more time to do that.  And a motorcycle isn’t often the optimum mode of transportation to church but more importantly what’s our mindset as we approach God for worship?

Psalms 100:4 says, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him and bless His name.”  Oh how the devil loves a family to scrap on their way to church, or a couple to remain irritated with each other and begin worship with the matter unresolved between them. He relishes you being preoccupied in your mind with the events of the day or worried about tomorrow all because he does not want you to grasp what God has in His Word for YOU !   If Satan can bring you to the place where heading off to God’s house is a drudgery rather than a delight, he’s won ! So we need the rebuke of “have good attitudes” as we head to worship !     But something else here, do you ever think that when your heart is not where it needs to be to worship that Satan can also use your lousy attitude to affect others too??  The verse promotes a positive outlook of praise and thanks and urges us with a spirit of intensity to BLESS His name !!  We do get out of it what we put into it and so do others around us.    So a comb is good, respectful dress, a nice set of wheels, even a good rest the night before Sunday services, etc.  but even more importantly is that our heart is prepared properly so that the Lord can do His great work in YOU and your church family !!