I was listening to an interview recently with former Secretary of War Donald Rumsfeld. During the interview he talked of attending services with the men who were deployed in Afghanistan. The interviewer accompanied Mr. Rumsfeld on this trip and attended the same service. It was at this point the interviewer made this comment…
Church has a whole different atmosphere when your life is on the line…
Read that again. Mull over it reflecting on your thoughts regarding worship the last time you were in church. I wonder what our attitude would be if there was a very good possibility that when we walked out the door of the church that our life would end and we would enter eternity. For me, this is what I think would happen… (At least I pray this would be my attitude):
I’d take the words of the songs I sang more serious…
I’d listen more closely to the prayers of those who prayed during the service…
I’d pray more passionately to encounter God in the service…
I’d be more serious about my own worship of God…
I’d listen much more closely to the Scripture and message…
I’d contemplate my relationship to God with all seriousness.
While chances are I won’t die by the hand of another like our soldiers, the uncertainty of my life from one day to the next is the same as theirs. The difference is that a soldier’s life might end quicker than mine… but that is in God’s hands.
Anyway… given Jesus’ admonition to “be ready,” I’m reminded today that worship in an honor and privilege. It is a joy and a blessing. And I should take it as seriously as many of our troops do who are in battle conditions because I do not know when I will draw my last breath and enter eternity…