So Much Better

Psalm 84:10 For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

There are certain events that are so wonderful and memorable (or at time tragic) that we dedicate one day every year to remembering them.   There are historical figures who are likewise deemed worthy of annual remembrance with a national holiday (individually or collectively).   In our own homes we ‘memorialize’ certain great events–the anniversary of mom and dad and the birthdays of our children.  But there is only one event in all of human history that has been deemed worthy of remembrance every single week.  That event is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.   In honor of that event God has given His Son one day in seven to serve as a distinct memorial, separate and distinct from all other days.  The Lord’s Day has been regarded in the past by such honored titles as the “Queen of Days” and the “Market Place of the Soul”.    The average Christian in our day, however, seems to be more of the spirit expressed in Amos 8:5   “When will the New Moon be past, That we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, That we may trade wheat?”

Some years ago a man who had attended our church announced to me that he thought it was legalistic to have and to ‘require’ an evening service.  I said to him, “Well, let me tell you what we will be doing Sunday night.  We will gather together with the saints, who are the excellent one in the earth in whom is all my delight (Psalm 16:3).  We will gather as living stones to form a spiritual temple in which the Spirit of God will come and inhabit.   We will have the words of the living God read and expounded to our needy hearts.  We will sing songs and hymns and spiritual songs.  We will have our hearts and our minds lifted toward heaven and be reminded of that eternal Sabbath Day.”

I then asked a simple question, “Are your plans for the day better than that?”    I am not saying that the Bible commands an evening worship service, but when one is available and those dynamics are in play–what is better?