Skip to main content

You Took My Parking Space at Church!

I received this e-mail the other day and felt like it I had to share it...this should wake us up.


One day, a man went as a visitor to a church.  He got there early, parked his car and got out.  Another car pulled up near by and parked.  The driver got out and said, "I always park there! You took my place!"

The visitor went inside for the service, found an empty seat and sat down.  A young lady from the church approached him and stated, "That's my seat! You took my place!"  The visitor was somewhat distressed by this rude welcome, but still said nothing.

After the service, the visitor went into the Sanctuary and sat down to pray.  Another member came up to him and said, "That's where I always sit! You took my place!"  The visitor was even more troubled by his treatment, but still said nothing.

Later as the congregation was praying for Christ to dwell among them, the visitor stood up, and his appearance began to change.  His clothing became a simple robe.  Horrible scars became visible on his hands and on his now sandaled feet.  Someone from the congregation noticed Him and called out, "What happened to you?"

The visitor replied, as His hat became a crown of thorns, and a tear fell down from his eye, "I took your place!"


What are we concerned about when we go to church?  Where we park? Where we sit? What we wear? Who speaks to who?  Or are we going to church to truly worship God and His son Jesus Christ?  If you go to church for any reason other than to worship and learn more about Christ then you're going for the wrong reasons.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

2020 is Hindsight...Finally!

Wow, what a year! 2020 could literally be an entire decade, maybe more, of history, change, and lessons rolled up into these twelve months. While many aspects of 2020 were kind of sucky and we would like to forget them, it will certainly be a year to remember. And it will be enlightening when this year is looked back on in 10, 25, or 50 years to be discussed. I wonder if we'll seem like geniuses or idiots? Probably both to some extent! While there is so much that I could consider and analyze about this year, I'll try to break some of it down into four dimensions - Physical, Spiritual, Mental, and Social/Emotional. These are events and happenings from my world and perspective and I'm trying to be open in sharing and would love to hear from others on events you found most transforming. Physical When COVID cause gyms to close, that messed me up. Our town and state were late to be hit with severe cases and therefore later than many across the country to close up shop. I'm n...

Worship > Fellowship

I believe that worship, true worship of God, is more important than fellowship with other believers.  Now I'm not saying that fellowship and relationships aren't important.  But I am saying that if I'm not worshiping God, if I'm not right with him, then my other relationships can't be right.  My fellowship and worship with him is more important than my relationship with my wife, my son, family, friends, my church, and my community.  Think about it.  How can I love my wife like Christ loved the church if I don't love Christ?  I wouldn't know how to love without knowing him.  Why should she submit to me if I'm not worth submitting to?  And yes I do believes wives should submit, but I also believe that won't be an issue as long as she's submitting to a godly husband.  (Ephesians 5:22-25) Our love for others must flow from our love and worship of God.  1 John 4:19-21 reads, "We love because he first loved us.  If anyone says,...

Do You Need Revival?

"Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in You?" - Psalm 85:6 The thoughts below were in my devotional this morning by Dr. Lee Sheppard: "So how can we know if we need revival in our lives?  Well, we need revival when our salvation has lost its joy, when our sin does not break our heart, and when we make little to no effort to witness to the lost.  We need revival when worship becomes boring, when we are at odds with believers and see no need for reconciliation, and when we fail to believe God for the impossible.  We need revival when we have to be begged to give and serve in church and when we would rather make money than give money.  We need revival when we have to be entertained to be drawn to church and when we are indifferent to the fact that there are 2.5 billion people on the planet who have never heard the name of Jesus.  We need revival when we don't regularly see the supernatural evidence of God's power and when ...