Today is Friday. In two days from now Christians all over the world will gather together to worship God. They will do so in simple church buildings or fancy ones. They will gather in storefronts or movie theatres. They will gather in someone’s home or out in a field.

No matter what their surroundings look like, it will be what they are doing that is the most important thing. Together they will be worshiping and serving God as his people.

Lately, I’ve been inviting the congregation where I pastor to think intentionally about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it when we gather on Sundays. 

Are we coming as consumers of McChurch? 
Are we coming only for warm and cozy feelings?
Are we coming out of a sense of duty only?
Are we coming to always receive and never give?
Are we coming with a spirit of apathy to God and to his bride (the church)?

In John 4:23 (ESV) Jesus said that God is looking for a certain attitude and mind-set in worship: “true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.”

Wow. God is actually seeking people to worship him like this!

Here is one more reason to worship on Sundays with hearts and minds wide open to the goodness of God. Speaking about Jesus, theologian Don Carson writes: “he came to pay a debt he did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay.”*

Let me state that again: “he came to pay a debt he did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay.”

We were in over our heads. Our debt was so steep that there was no way we could pay it back. So in a colossal act of self-sacrificial love, Jesus came to settle your account. He took your punishment so you could have peace with God—forever.

And THAT, my friends, is one of the reasons we gather in spirit and truth to praise the Lord.

Are you entitled, or thankful? Are you dismissive, or appreciative?

He came to pay a debt he did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay.

Let’s worship with gratitude.

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Notes:

-*D.A. Carson, Basics for Believers: The Core of Christian Faith and Life (BakerBooks: Grand Rapids, 1996), 51.
-The Up Devotional is published 5 days a week (Monday-Friday) and returns on June 23, 2025.