A preacher decided to “call in sick” one Sunday. Instead of going to church, he drove 40 miles to play golf where no one would know him. An angel spoke to God, “I know you see that, aren’t you going to do something?”
With a sigh, God said, “Yes, I am.” Just then, the preacher, not a great golfer, hit his tee shot. The ball sailed straight down the fairway, curved around the dogleg, landed just past the water, bounced over a sand trap onto the green, and rolled slowly to the lip of the cup and - - fell in.
The angel exclaimed, “That’s doing something? That was a 476 yard hole in one!”
God replied, “Yes, but who can he tell?”
What about you? Are you ever tempted to “call in sick” on Sunday? Over 130 million Americans stay home from church each week. Is there any compelling reason for them to change?
Yes! First and foremost, God himself says you should go to church. It was his idea for believers to gather on Sundays to encourage and strengthen each other. It was he who said, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing” (Hebrews 10:25). We need each other and we function better in community. God expects us to be present.
Not only is it the right thing to do, but church attendance has also been proven to correlate to longer, healthier lives. One study says that weekly churchgoers have life expectancy of 82 years; compared to just 75 for non-churchgoers. Another study suggests that those who attend church weekly are half as likely to suffer from depression when compared to those who don’t attend.
It has also been found that those who attend church regularly have happier, more successful families. The National Institute of Healthcare Research, says that people who attend church are: more than twice as likely to stay married; they report greater marital satisfaction; and feel a greater sense of overall well-being. Harvard economist, Richard Freeman, says that for at-risk children, church attendance is a better predictor of who will escape drugs, crime, and poverty than any other factor.
In short, going to church every Sunday is right. It’s what God wants. And that always works - always produces good results. Let’s keep that in mind next time we’re tempted to “call in sick” at church.