Sunday mornings against the clock

One Sunday morning, a couple years ago, a bunch of friends and I wanted to go to church together. We had heard about this church and decided to go to the early service, but didn't check to see what time that service was. We essentially caught the tail end of the "Amen!".

I use to, and still do at times, chide myself for not showing up on time for church. The funny thing about this is that when I go with others, I'm always WAAAY early or 10-15 minutes late. If I go by myself, I'm on time. Go figure.

Late, early, on time. At least I'm going, right? The cheap answer is yes. Yes, I'm going. BUT, let's make some leaps shall we?

If I think I can show up late to church and no one will say anything, it'll be OK. If no one says anything then, who's to say I can't skip church on Sundays here and there, every now and then? If no one STILL says anything, why not skip church altogether on Sundays and let me have Sundays for more ME time?

By doing one thing and getting away with it, we make bolder and bolder steps in doing what we used to think was unthinkable.

Too far you say? Let's look at another analogy: lying. If you're willing to lie, then you'll be willing to cheat. Cheating->Stealing. Stealing->Killing.

Church folks call this whole process "backsliding". I like to call it "getting sloppy".

I'm not saying that we'll end up in hell for showing up to church late, but if we make it a habit, we might.

Let's not get too sloppy, but be reminded of His washing.

Isaiah 1:18 and Psalm 51:7.