I come home to my
wife at the end of every day. Yes, there
are some nights that I am out of town on business or for emergencies in my
extended family, but I have never chosen to not come home simply because I
didn’t feel like it.
Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves
541 Seibles Rd.,
Montgomery, AL 36116
My spouse dwells in our
house and I don’t neglect the responsibility to be in this house at the end of
every day. I don’t come home only on days
that I know Sheila will be waiting for me in something slinky, not just on the
days that some crisis has happened in my life and I need her to comfort me, not
just on the special occasions that socially obligate us to spend “quality” time
together. I come to our house at the
end of EVERY day.
I come home to this
house every day because Sheila and I have a covenant relationship. We are married. To neglect the house of where my spouse and I
dwell together would be to dishonor the covenant of our relationship. My mouth might say, “Baby, I love you,” but
my actions would say, “I don’t really give a crap about you or this
relationship.”
True, Sheila’s grown
and she can drive. And, if I got a room
at a hotel in town, she could find me and come there if she really wanted to see
me.
But really?
By neglecting our
home I’d still be saying, “As far as I’m concerned, our relationship does not
define home for me. I define home for
myself. So today I’m going to act like I’m
still single.”
This whole being a
Christian thing is most essentially about beginning and living out a covenant
relationship with Jesus Christ. It’s
about becoming and being the bride, the spiritual spouse of Christ.
Ephesians 5: 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his
father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become
one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning
Christ and the church.
The church is the
house of God. At the end of every week
you ought to go to your Spouse’s house.
Oh, you can use your
mouth to say, “But God is with me wherever I am on Sunday morning. I don’t have to be in some man’s church.”
O.K. But let’s be
real here. Your actions and your heart are actually
saying, “This covenant relationship I’m supposed to have with God isn’t a
priority for me. Today I’m going to act
like I’m still spiritually single.”
Mark 7:6 Jesus answered and said to them, “Well did
Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me
with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.' "
Work, emergencies,
and sickness do sometimes happen on Sunday morning; but the regular EVERY Sunday pattern of your life should be----- I’m
at Jesus’ house, our house, my church.
Hebrews 10: 24 And let us
consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together, as is
the manner of some…
Church involves some
trappings and rituals. Songs and
offerings and titles and such------ that’s all just housekeeping. Some of it needs to be done. Some of it needs to be done differently. Some of it is decorative and
unnecessary. But none of the
housekeeping chores in the Lord’s house change the fact that you ought to be
there at the end of EVERY week.
Not just the weeks
when the Holy Spirit will be waiting to give you an ecstatic experience.
Not just the weeks
that you are in crisis and you want God to comfort you and the church to give
you some a$$istance.
Not just the weeks
that fall on special occasions when society expects you to be in the Lord’s
house.
Not because of who’s
preaching or who’s singing or who’s single.
But because you love
the Lord and you value this covenant relationship you have with Him, you should
end your week automatically headed to the house of God just like you start your
week automatically headed to work (or wherever you go when the week starts).
If I just didn’t
come home at the end of today, and then I showed up in the morning asking
Sheila to cook me breakfast, she might have reason to doubt my commitment to our
relationship.
So you don’t show up
week after week after week, and then during the week you ask God to bless you
with this and with that. Really?
Maybe the reason
your life in one crisis after another has less to do with haters and more to do
with neglecting your Spouse’s house.
Haggai 1:9 You looked for much, but indeed it
came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away.
“Why?” says the Lord of hosts. “Because of My
house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house.”
I’m just saying.
---Anderson T. Graves II
Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is the pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church
Call/ fax: 334-288-0577Email us at hallmemorialcme1@aol.com
Friend Pastor Graves at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves
If you want to be a blessing to this ministry, contributions may be made
by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church541 Seibles Rd.,
Montgomery, AL 36116
God has spoken. Let the church say, AMEN.
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