Perfect Timing

Today is Sunday. It was only 7 days ago that I was last sitting in church, being reminded, challenged, and inspired to start the week fresh- to wake up each morning and say "This is the day the Lord has made!" - Seize it, live it, glory in the fact that God has branded me His own- and accept the joys and responsibilities that go with it. Man, after church it really hits me how good it is to be a Christian. To be together with the body of believers, to sing, hear the preaching, and be fed in a way that I can't really express. And when your heart is full to bursting, to set out for home, ready to face a new day, face the world, and shine the light that God has so graciously rekindled.

But we forget so quickly. By Monday night, I'm struggling. The bonfire becomes a wimpy flame, fragile, flickering; growing weaker and weaker each day. Why is that? What is it about re-entering the "real world" that makes us forget? Can we really be so fickle? We bicker, fight, gossip, slander, hate, abuse, and in our ignorance we somehow still try to convince ourselves that we are wonderful people. It's sad. As the flame retreats under a bushel-preferring the "shelter" provided, we don't even notice. In fact- we leave it there, safe, secure, and indifferent. Soon it becomes a dying ember, and what do we do? Pull out the magnifying glass, fool ourselves into thinking we still harbour a bonfire in our hearts because we can regurgitate doctrine, quote scripture, or whatever else it is that makes us think we have got things together. But where is the passion?

God is so good to such a miserable crowd of people- That's why after 6 days He tells us to get back together, so we can actually "get things together." His timing is perfect. He won't let the flame die. Today there was a baptism followed by the Lord's Supper. What better way to experience the communion of the saints than through these two sacraments? To be reminded of the covenant God made with us, and then to be hit again with the reality that Christ had to DIE. It's humiliating. Everything that was so important the week before, things that pushed God into the margins, things that caused our flame to sputter seem to lose their significance. We refocus, exchanging our inverted eyeballs for a set that looks good because it looks to Christ.

We need Sunday. We need a day set aside for rest and worship, a day to be reminded, because unfortunately, we quite quickly forget. We forget who we are, what is demanded of us, and how we are supposed to live. God knows this, loves us anyways, and willingly sets us straight so we can begin a new week again. The cycle continues, but God never gives up on us.
Amazing.