Ouch!

It grieves me to no end to have a friend who quit going to church. She has never opened her heart to me about it but, from what a family member said, it might have been because someone at the church didn't greet her.

It might sound silly to a man, I think women might be more prone to understand such emotional pain, but whether warranted or not, my friend's pain was real to her. I'm just so sorry she let it rob her of all the good things derived from church. Unfortunately, heart agony caused at church is not only real, it can be spiritually devastating. As in the case of my friend, who has never again set foot in church.

I know some wonder, if it's such a purveyor of pain, why bother going to church at all? I'm glad you asked that.

We know that the main purpose of going to church is to honor Jesus. After all, He told us to go (Hebrews 10:25). And we know that to obey His commandments is to honor Him. He didn't pull this admonition out of a magician's hat, making this rule up arbitrarily. Unlike those set forth by run-of-the-mill politicians, His rules are actually for our good. Always.

Secular sources themselves say getting together with other people benefits us in many ways. Get a load of the following, taken from online posts by the famed Mayo Clinic: "Socializing not only staves off feelings of loneliness, but also helps sharpen memory and cognitive skills, increases your sense of happiness and well-being and may even help you live longer." If you search around the internet, you will find other secular venues that verify the strength in getting together with others.

Now, we have friends whose physical limitations prohibit church attendance. Other believers, unfortunately, have to work on Sunday. God understands that. He's not asking for something we can't do. But when there is no physical impediment of any kind (health, work), it's pretty sure He's expecting us to darken ye olde church doors.

Why? If because He said to isn't enough for you, get a load of Psalm 26:12, "My foot standeth in an even place: in the congregation will I bless the Lord." The psalmist is saying that his foot is on an even place. Not a bumpy place, not an uneven place, not a place that goes up and down, not a place where you can easily stumble and get hurt.

Self-destructive people struggling with death wishes aside, most people long for such stability. That is where the psalmist says he is, a place of stability. And where exactly is this stability to be found? In the next breath, just past the semicolon, that particular punctuation signifying that the two independent clauses set forth in the sentence are related, the psalmist identifies exactly where that longed-for stability can be found. In God's house.

Yes, there is a modicum of strength and anointing to be found in televised sermons and teachings. They have their place in the Kingdom. But the strength derived from fellowship with God's people and community worship cannot be duplicated through such venues.

Have I been hurt at church? Oh, yeah. Want me to cry you a handful (as Dennis would say)? Oh, the stories I could tell! Believe you me, there have been times I have dragged this old carcass of a body to church through sheer will power, pulling it through a wall of pain made of shards of glass. Ouch. Big time ouch.

Now, why would anyone in their right mind torture themselves like that? Because I know my Good Shepherd. I know that on the other side of this tortuous creek—this directive He gave about going to church that hurts like crazy—He has a beautiful meadow awaiting me.

Sure, it's not easy. The pain is real. But reflect on this a minute—who do you think put that pain in your path? It wasn't Jesus. He came that we might have life more abundantly. Abundantly infers good stuff. It's His sworn enemy who is seeking whom he can torture and destroy. So the question is, are you going to cry, whine, and play into the hands of the one who wants to diminish you in every possible way? Are you going to let him drive you away from the good stuff you'll get by sticking to Jesus? Or are you going to press on, despite the pain, and follow hard after the One Who loves you and desires all that is good for you?

Why would I play into the hands of my enemy? No matter how great the pain, I stand by Peter's words: "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou are that Christ, the Son of the living God" (John 6:68-69).

Quitting is not an option. Onward—no matter the pain—to the glory of life found in Christ Jesus in all its aspects. We will never regret it.

"Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (Psalm 17:11).