Scripture
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
HEBREWS 10:23-25
Quotes/Color
“Anyone who is to find Christ must first find the church. How could anyone know where Christ is and what faith is in him unless he knew where his believers are?”
Martin Luther
“A car is made to run on gasoline, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other.”
C.S. Lewis
“At home, in my own house, there is no warmth or vigor in me, but in the church when the multitude is gathered together, a fire is kindled in my heart and it breaks its way through.”
Martin Luther
Context
Take a look at the Gallup poll results to the right. It was taken in 2021, measuring the self-reported mental health of Americans in 2019 and 2020.
2019 was a seemingly “normal” year. While 2020, of course, was a year unlike any other, full of isolation, remote work and loneliness, among other things.
The question was asked, “Would you rate your mental health/well-being as excellent?” And the following results were shown.
Take a moment and really look down the line.
Every demographic’s self-reported mental health decreased from 2019 to 2020.
- Males – down 8%
- Females – down 10% to a mere 27% in total
- Republicans – down 15%
- Democrats – down 1%
- White – down 10%
- Non-White – down 8%
- High income earners – down 12%
- Low income earners – down 6%
(Now the one glaring hole in this data, I acknowledge, is that dogs were not polled. Only humans. And dogs obviously had a banner year in 2020, cause their humans were always home. Meanwhile, you can only imagine the carnage this data would show if they had polled cats… Tough year for cats.)
But aside from that. EVERY demographics’ self-reported mental health decreased from 2019 to 2020. All of them! Except… Look again… There is one category…
Those who “attended religious service weekly.”
In debatably the toughest year humanity has gone through in my lifetime, one group stood alone and said… “Yeah, I am actually doing alright.” People who attended church not on Christmas and Easter, not once a month – weekly. Week in and week out were continually surrounded by community, steeped in God’s word and immersed in good teaching.
Application
There are plenty of really interesting things to take away from that Gallup poll data. But I think the most important ones are these:
If You Are a Christian, Go To Church. And Invite Others. It Is Too Important Not To
God made people. He wrote the instruction manual on how they should live and what fulfills them. He wired us. And recognize it or not, we are meant to celebrate our Maker and joyfully gather together in community on a rhythmic basis. He made us that way. There’s no doubt about it.
Sundays, Wednesdays… Whenever you can. God designed us to thrive in the company of other believers – spurring one another on and encouraging one another.
If You Are Not A Christian
It might be worth reaching out to a friend and asking if you can join – nothing to lose. It is vulnerable and uncomfortable, but so are lots of good things in life. And hopefully you’ll find out there is much more to going to church than not being depressed.
Something to Chew On:
- Do you have a rhythm of godly community in your life?
- As a Christian do you make it a priority to learn more about God, worship and gather weekly (or better yet daily)? Or just every now and again?
GreatValue Proverb:
Go to church, it’s too important not to