We live in a busy world. With technological advances one would think that our lives would be less hectic. However, the opposite seems to be true. Our time seems to be taken up throughout the week with various activities such as family activities, outings, practices, rehearsals, educational pursuits, business meetings, and so much more. We long for the weekend, where we have been taught by our modern culture that it is “our time” to be able to do whatever we want, or get to those projects that we couldn’t get to during the busy work week.
Unfortunately, in the unending pursuit of getting things done, we can very easily diminish or even dismiss the importance of the corporate worship of God’s people on Sunday. This can take place in many different ways including, but not limited to, the following:
- Corporate worship of God with God’s people is viewed as being “optional” while other things are viewed as being “required.” Therefore, faithful attendance is not important.
- Sunday morning services are more important than Sunday evening services. Therefore Sunday evening services are attended if it fits into our busy schedule.
- Some may view attendance as merely a “putting in the time” in order to appease the church leadership, but this attendance will only be as frequent as is needed to keep someone from pursuing them.
- Some may even view Sunday as their only “family day” and therefore miss the entire day of corporate worship.
I remember as a child playing on various sports teams or being involved in various musical groups. Back then there were no real worries about having to miss Sunday services because of those events. Today, all kinds of events are scheduled regularly on Sundays, putting the Christian family in a difficult position.
So what should be the mindset of Christian families regarding Sundays? Is Sunday worship important? Should that day be treated any differently than the other days of the week? What is the significance of Sunday, anyway?
In forthcoming installments, I will seek to lay out both biblical and historical evidence that Sunday is called the Lord’s Day, and though distinctly different from the Sabbath day of the Old Testament, is set aside for special significance in the mind of God. Because of these things, Sunday should also hold a place of great significance in the minds, hearts, and schedules of the Lord’s people.
This essay was originally posted here and is published by permission of the author.
About Guest Author
This guest article has been published because an editor has determined its contents to be supportive of the values of Religious Affections Ministries. Its publication does not imply full agreement between its author and RAM on other matters.
