Showing Up Isn’t Enough

Are you on Facebook (Link to my profile)?  How many friends do you have? 50? 100? 500? 1,000?  How many of them do you have meaningful interactions with on a regular basis?  If I had to guess, I would say probably not very many.  But I would also guess that at one time or another, you have compared yourself with others by how many friends you have on Facebook. (Don’t lie, you know you have)

At the time of this writing, I have 957 friends on Facebook.  However, this fact is not reflected in my news feed.  I have my settings fixed to show updates from all of my friends, but my news feed is usually consumed by posts from about 15% of my total number of friends.  Most of these posts tell me what the weather is doing, what they just ate, or some other pointless and boring piece of information.

What’s the point?  The point is that most of my “friends”  aren’t tapping the power of the medium.  They showed up, but showing up isn’t enough.  They are there, but being there doesn’t add any value.  Say something!  Do something!  Add some value!

Let me bring this to the Church.  Showing up is not enough.  It is easy for us to get into a rut of coming to church and going through the motions.  We shake hands and say, “praise the Lord.”  We clap our hands during the song.  We pay or tithe.  We listen to the preacher.  We might even make it to the altar.  But we can do all this and still not have anything change; we didn’t give anything and we didn’t get anything.

Don’t (just) go to church.  BE THE CHURCH!  Inside and outside the four walls.  Before service, during service, and after service.  At  home, at work, and at school.  Say something to encourage someone and glorify God.  Do something that will be a blessing to others and please your Heavenly Father.  Add some value!  Give yourself.  Give and it will come back.

Because showing up isn’t enough.