“The most important reason to be alert on Sunday morning is because the Lord of the universe deserves your very best. Of course, we worship God all week, but Sunday mornings are a unique and special way to do so unlike any other. It has been specially organized by our leaders and set aside as the time we get to worship with our church.”
Sunday morning starts Saturday night.
This was a statement my college pastor would always say. It is an important reminder for college students but pertinent to every church goer as well. As human beings, we are constantly distracted. It is so hard for us to focus and to really pay attention to what’s important. Despite the fact that our focus should be on Jesus Christ at all times, every day, the world tempts us to take our eyes off Christ and to worship the creature rather than the Creator (Rom. 1:25
). Because of this, it is imperative that we work hard to keep our minds as alert (1 Pet. 5:8) as possible.
There are three reasons I want to highlight in particular for why preparing for Sunday morning is imperative for our Christian walk.
We need to be alert for God
The most important reason to be alert on Sunday morning is because the Lord of the universe deserves your very best. Of course, we worship God all week, but Sunday mornings are a unique and special way to do so unlike any other. It has been specially organized by our leaders and set aside as the time we get to worship with our church. Whether it is the example of Abel with his offering (Gen. 4:4) or with David when he danced before the Lord (2 Sam. 6:14), it is quite obvious that the Lord is pleased when we put forward our best effort in worship (Psalm 147:11). Of course, we put forward this effort out of joy and out of fear and reverence for God.
We prepare ourselves for all kinds of things. Whether it is a job interview or a first date with a new love interest, when we value something we prepare for it. Nothing is more important than the Sunday morning gathering; therefore, the Lord deserves our very best effort. This, if we aren’t careful, can very easily become legalistic, if we impose our personal preferences of what it means to “be alert for God” on other people. Instead, we should each worship God in our own hearts, making sure that whatever we do, we do it for the glory of God (Col. 3:17). That said, we all should prioritize Sunday mornings (Hebrews 10:24-25) so that we can be fully alert and on our best game.
Sunday morning starts Saturday night because there is nothing like worshipping God together as a congregation.
We need to be alert for ourselves
When you are tempted to miss church, or to watch that next Netflix show on Saturday night because it left on a cliffhanger and you can’t possibly wait to watch for a whole day, remember that tomorrow you are going to have to sit and listen to God’s Word. It certainly isn’t boring, but preaching, in general–at least good preaching–takes a massive amount of alertness.
