Once, I visited a brother in Christ who had not gone to church for 30 or 40 years. I asked him, “Why have you not gone to church until now?” He told me about a Christian who treated him badly, and so from that day on, he did not go to church. I used the words of Jesus, saying, “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6) I explained, “The person who caused you to stumble will face consequences, but you shouldn’t look to him as a reason for not going to church. You should look to Jesus!” When he heard that, he understood and replied, “I will go to church tomorrow.” And so he did! Praise the Lord.

Dear friends, why are you not going to church? Why do you not step into the sanctuary? Maybe like the brother, someone caused you to stumble. So you go through life in a blur, so “blurred” that you are unable to see that Jesus is your object of worship. The person who caused you to stumble has instead become the object dictating your life. So, stop looking at other people as God, otherwise they will very easily cause you to stumble.
Besides being too “blurred” to go to church, another reason may be “busy”. From morning till evening you are so busy that you cannot find time to go to church.

The Sarawak Chinese Annual Conference has over 110,000 members, but only around 40,000 go to church and Sunday School. The other 70,000 members do not go to church. Are you one of them?

Once, we were doing evangelism at a row of shophouses. In every shop there were some who were already baptized, but did not go to church. When we invited them to church, they only had one reason not to go: “Busy!” Are you one of those “busy” people?

Dear friends, there are indeed endless things to do in this world, making you so busy that you lose your direction. That is why the acronym for the word “BUSY” is “Be Under Satan’s Yoke.”

One young man worked all year round except for days one and two of Chinese New Year. He had no time to go to church. I saw him in the hospital room lying in bed, because he was completely worn out. So he was “making up” rest days in the hospital!
Friends, we do not need to wear ourselves out being busy, before we think about going to church. God knows that we human beings are limited. He knows that you and I need rest. Even God needed a rest after a week. As the Bible says: “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” (Genesis 2:1-3)

Jesus also said, “The Sabbath was made for man…” (Mark 2:27). In a week of seven days, one of the days is called the Sabbath. It is a good day prepared for you. You need to use it well, to treasure the Sabbath. Don’t be so busy as if you were busier than God, or seeing yourself as God.

Besides “blurred” and “busy”, what other reasons do you have for not going to church? Maybe it’s being “blind”. You cannot see the object of your faith. You cannot see that Jesus is the way, truth, and life. You cannot see that Jesus is God.

Even though you were baptized at a young age, no one ever explained the gospel to you. Or maybe though it was explained, you still don’t understand. To you, Jesus is only a historical character, irrelevant to you. When I was young, I was also baptized, but I did not know that I needed to trust in Jesus as my Saviour. I did not know that I needed to believe in Jesus who died for my sins and rose on the third day. The year I turned 19, I saw it. Then I was no longer “blind”. I trusted in Jesus as my Saviour. And from that day on, going to church became a meaningful lifestyle. It became an indispensable habit of life.

I invite you now to trust in Jesus Christ as your Saviour. Pray right now: “Jesus, I trust in you to be my Saviour.” From now on, you will desire to go to church.

Are you “blurred”? Don’t look at other people as God.
Are you “busy”? Don’t look at yourself as God.
Are you “blind”? Only look to Jesus as God!

Dear friends, don’t let “blurriness”, “busyness”, or “blindness” stop you from going to church. I invite you to go back to church. Take action today, come back to church!

By Rev Dr Tie King Tai
SCAC President