EMPTY PEWS

Neglect in assembling for worship and study is one of the most prevalent sins in the church today.  Check almost any church bulletin and you will note a forty to fifty percent decrease in attendance from Sunday morning to Wednesday night.  Why?  A few are absent due to age and physical infirmity. However, the majority had rather relax, recreate and be entertained by the Hollywood set.

The empty pew is a display of Laodicean spirit.  The Sunday morning only crowd is characterized by lukewarm devotion.  Their thimble-size capacity for spirituality is quickly filled.  Their commitment to things divine is exhausted in an hour per week.  like Israel of old, they view the worship assembly with a spirit of boredom, declaring, “What a weariness it is” (Mal. 1:13). They view themselves as glowing with spiritual health while God regards them as “wretched, and miserable, and poor and blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:17).

The empty pew is an expression of contempt for the blood of Christ.  It points an accusing finger at the spiritually tepid member who has exchanged the cross for a Lazy Boy recliner and a television program. Golgotha has completely lost its meaning to once redeemed souls whose spiritual thirst can be quenched in a weekly hour of worship.  Develop the attitude of the sister who declared, “I can hardly wait for Sundays and Wednesday nights.”

The assemblies of the church for worship and study are marvelously wonderful occasions.  They edify, strengthen and encourage.  Something is tragically wrong with members of the church who can neglect them without feeling or regret of conscience.

May we all strive to develop the attitude of the sister who declared, “I can hardly wait for Sundays and Wednesday nights.”

            - Selected
            By  Frank Chesser, Jacksonville, FL