A Good Point

I was especially moved by something one of the elders said at church Sunday morning. Right before we took the communion he talked about how Veterans Day had just come and gone. He said that to many people it has become just another holiday; a day of not having to go to work and of being able to sleep in. To some people, it's not a day to remember and thank all the veterans who either gave their lives or who served in the military to help make this country what it is today.

He compared that to our taking the Lord's Supper and attending church on Sunday. Again, some people view Sunday as a day for sleeping in and not having to go to work. It's so much more than that. Jesus lay down his life for us. He shed His blood, and His body was broken because we needed a way to have our sins forgiven. Through Jesus' death, He provided a bridge between us and the Father. There are so many people who have heard about this wonderful gift, yet who don't care. So when we partake of that unleavened bread and that grape juice, we do it while remembering the great sacrifice Jesus made for every one of us.

And on Sunday night, our youth minister spoke. He really got down to the core of our purpose, our reason for identifying ourselves as Christians. We can know every doctrine in the Bible, but if we don't know HIM, then we have lost the whole purpose. We must have a relationship with the one who loved us enough to die for us. We draw nearer to Him; we come to know Him personally through our prayers; that's just talking to God. And through studying His word, the Bible. Because everything we need to ever know about how to get to heaven in right there in that book.

Once we have studied the Bible, we have to remember to DO the things that God says he wants us to do. We can't be "hearers only". And we become the kind of person God wants us to be in that way.