Gathering Together

11For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— 12or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. ~ Romans 1:11-12

When I was a child, my mother saw to it that we went to Sunday School every Sunday, often taking neighborhood kids with us as well.  We would sometimes ask, "Why doesn't daddy come to church?" to which she would reply that he worked 6 days a week and needed to get some additional sleep.  Dad's answer was that he would attend "TV church" when he got up.  We would think this unfair - usually when it was extremely cold out and didn't really want to travel in the cold back and forth to church, but mom was always adamant that we go and dad always supported her in that as well.

Paul explains in Romans that getting together to share our faith with each other is important for everyone involved.  By sharing our faith with each other on a regular basis, we help reinforce and strengthen each other's faith as well.  By sharing our spiritual gifts, we help each other grow in our spiritual lives, where staying alone with our faith may keep our faith stagnant or weaken it during difficult times when others of faith can help bolster our faith when we aren't sure of our own faith seeing us through difficult times alone.

Have you been attending church regularly?  If not, what is holding you back?  Make a point to get together with your church in worship this Sunday.  Enjoy fellowshipping together before and after service as well.  Strengthen your faith ties with others of similar beliefs and watch your faith grow stronger.

Prayer

Dear Lord,

Thank You for allowing us places to gather with others that believe in You for our faith in You to be mutually strengthened. Help us to always make the greatest effort to attend faithfully instead of making excuses to miss a week so that our faith continues to grow.  Amen.