How to Go to Church

Seems that i've not been blogging in a while... and i got lotsa things to say but i just dunno where to start.. haha.. i feel that blogging keeps me disciplined and allows me to meditate on the daily truths that the Holy Spirit brings in my direction..

Ok... let's start with Saturday...

We met for our usual pre-service prayer and i was just listening to the prayers of my fellow leaders and i noticed something common that some people prayed.. some prayed that we would "learn something" from the service... and it left a somehwat deep impression in me because we are not in church merely to "learn something"... learning something is good but that's not the purpose why we come.. church is not as much as learning something as it is about meeting a Person.. the very Person of God.. the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit... and yes, this is another bi-product, i believe of the social conditioning that people receive in Singpore..

You see, we all hardly get to play.. one of the ways that God works in our lives is really through play-time! Sometimes, God just wants us to chill out and enjoy His glorious presence without having to discuss much about doctrine... We all hardly get time to chill out and hang with frens cos we're always so busy improving and modernising ourselves.. we dun usually get to chill... the buzzword is singapore is development.. not just in terms of buildings or property but now even people.. and it seems that many institutions students pass through in their early life is all about "learning something".. they are there to learn something, not just to chill or play or even enjoy the company...

But church shouldn't be like that.. we dun just learn something for the sake of itself.. it's not a means to itself.. we learn so that we can grow closer to Jesus.. but many times, Jesus merely becomes an adjunct term at the end of our prayers.. almost like a clause, a postage stamp we insert upon our prayers so as to ensure they get to heaven.. bleahx... that's not what God wants.. cos He's looking for relationship... he doesn't care if we can debate as well as Martin Luther on doctrinal issues... essentially, He wants us to come to Him... that's what church is all about- meeting Him!!!

Now picture yorself for a moment.. you sms your best friend.. tell him you'd like to meet him at let's say 5pm tomorrow at 6th avenue with some of your other frens... when you do get there and you do meet your friend, you dun simply wait for your other friends to talk to you and tell you what they know about him.. and why do you wanna meet your best fren? cos you wanna be with him. plain and simple... you dun arrange to meet ur best fren just to "learn something" (although that can happen from your experience with Him...

Let me take this example further... You certainly dun:
-ramble on and on to your best fren about what favours you want him to do (what many ppl in the church call "prayer")
-bring along your best fren's autobiography, and spend ALL your time disecting it, burying your face in it, all the while when your best fren is right there in front of you... (i'm not against reading and studying the Bible.. in fact, i do that for very long periods.. but it shouldn't become an end in itself.. it should always lead you closer to Him and deepen your walk and relationship with Him) (do we worship the physical Bible instead of the Person it points to??)
-obsess yourself with stories of how your other frens experience their close friendship with your best fren... (testimonies are good but don't you wanna have your own experiences with Him??)

It's not just intellectual, it's experiential!

Jesus is the daily bread, the Bread of life that satisfies... when we come to Him, we will be satisfied.. there's been so many times when i've left church uncontented cos i know deep down i was not satisfied.. it's time we don't turn to a system but to Him to satisfy us... and we don't just apply this in coming to church but also in our daily walk, our quiet time, our time alone with God, whichever you wanna call it...

So how do we go to church? We go to church with a sense of expectation.. not so much to learn something (although it's good that we always learn something)... but more so to meet the living, real person of Jesus Christ!! the Father and the Holy Spirit too!! Hebrews 11 tells us that those who come to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who dilligently seek Him... we're not to seek kowledge as much as we are to seek the Person who holds all knowlege! we're to seek Him! When we expect Him, church won't become just another lifeless, meaningless system of going through the motion... Rather, we become consumed with the glorious person of Jesus Christ, His fiery love, His beauty, His insurmountable qualities and unsurpassing glorious worth! Now that's revival!

;)