This morning, as I sat reflecting on a sermon I listened to earlier yesterday, one question kept returning to my mind. It wasn’t a question about church attendance or even about whether we believe the right things. It was much more personal.
How comfortable have we become with our Christian lives outside the church building?
That question stayed with me because it’s easy to mistake church activity for Christian living.
Every Sunday and sometimes Wednesday we gather together. We sing songs of praise. We bow our heads in prayer. We listen as God’s Word is faithfully preached. We greet one another with smiles and encouragement. For a few hours, we’re surrounded by people whose hearts are focused on Christ.
Then the service ends.
We walk out the doors.
Then next morning arrives.
The question is no longer what kind of Christian I was sitting in the pew. The question becomes, what kind of Christian am I when no one from church is around?
The sermon challenged believers with several areas where we can slowly become comfortable.
Comfortable with rarely sharing the gospel. Comfortable with giving only when it’s convenient instead of trusting God by faith. Comfortable with hurried, routine prayers instead of pouring our hearts out before the Lord. Comfortable with praising God inside the church while remaining silent the rest of the week. Comfortable with loving those who love us while struggling to love those who make life difficult. Even comfortable with allowing our private thought life to drift away from holiness.
As I thought about those things, I realized most of them don’t happen inside the church building.
They happen after we leave it.
The Christian life was never meant to be lived for an hour on Sunday. Church is where we gather to worship, learn, encourage one another, and be equipped. But once the final prayer is said and the parking lot begins to empty, that’s where our faith begins to show itself.
Our families see it.
Our neighbors see it.
Our coworkers see it.
Our children see it.
Most importantly, God sees it.
Maybe that’s why James reminds us to be doers of the Word, and not hearers only (James 1:22).‘But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. ‘
Tonight, as I finish these thoughts, I’m not asking whether I went to church this week.
I’m asking something much harder.
Has what I heard at church changed the way I live after I left?
Because following Jesus isn’t something we practice only inside four walls.
It’s the life we live every day, wherever God places us.
Until the rain falls again…
Grace and peace,
A Porch Believer
This thought came from a sermon I listened to this week. The message challenged me, and I wanted to share what the Lord impressed on my heart. If you’d like to hear the full sermon for yourself, I’ve included the link below. I hope it encourages you as much as it encouraged me.