By Jim Miller
Gray, Maine
Today we will assemble in worship, we will sing, give of our means, pray, partake of the Lords supper in his remembrance and hear a portion of Gods word.
Most of us will gather an hour early to have a Bible study and thus when all is said and done we will have devoted maybe in total an hour and forty five minutes together in worship and then return this evening for another hour or less in some case and then we will move on with our lives.
I often wonder if we really have the same zeal as that of the first century Christians we claim to follow. I am put in mind of Paul in the book of acts when he preached till midnight. Act 20:7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. Act 20:8 And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together.
I have watched over the years the actions of some in the assembly if the preacher feels he has to go over his allotted amount of time. I have noted how the folks in the pew start looking at watches and clocks on the wall and how they squirm in their seat and I have seen members get up and walk out too. I will not leave myself out for I too have done this in the past.
Are our lives lived so well and pure that we only need to give such little time to study and worship together of the God that created us in the first place? Can a couple of short prayers at the beginning and end of our services really even begin to touch on what really needs to be prayed for? Can five or six songs really express our love for God and one another? Has our attention span really diminished to such a point that we can't use this one day a week to truly devote ourselves to worship?
Some times I wonder if we are not just going through the motions fooling ourselves into thinking we have done our part with just a few hours of devotion to what we call worship. I wonder if there are really as many lights on today as there where in the first century?
