As consumers, we expect a certain degree of service and preferential treatment in exchange for our loyalty. We expect our needs and desires to be catered to. That’s why we come back to restaurants, grocery stores, and retail outlets—we frequent the places that remember their chief end is to make the consumer happy. And unfortunately, many of us have at our core the same mentality when it comes to the church.
If we treat the church the same way we treat a restaurant or a bowling alley, then of course we will be disappointed. Thanks to our ability to stream worship services, we have the ability to compare preaching, singing, and other components of the church experience, and in so doing have found our local congregations wanting when it comes to others.
Of course we get disappointed because we have forgotten the real reason we are there.
So why are we there? Why are we gathering? We are not gathering together primarily for our needs to be met, for our expectations to be reached, or for our own entertainment. We are there to serve the Lord and each other. We are there to help each other follow Jesus through challenging one another to keep going in the faith. We are there to honor the Lord and in so doing to die to ourselves, even when it comes to meeting together in the church.
When we forget the humanity of our pastor, the humanity of our fellow church members, and the real reason we are there to begin with, we will always, always be disappointed in the church. But now is not the time for that. Now is the time for the opposite. It’s the time for us to remember the frace we have received from the Lord and to extend that grace to others around us.
This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.Â
