Time Well Spent

Psalm 84:1-4,10

How lovely is your dwelling place,
Lord Almighty!
My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young—
a place near your altar,
Lord Almighty, my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you.

Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

Monday and Tuesday this week I was at a pastors’ conference in Oklahoma City. We have these conferences twice a year. It’s always great to see the brothers and talk about ministry. We get to worship together and study together. Together we are refreshed, renewed, and restored by the Holy Spirit and by each other.

But to be completely honest, there’s a part of me that wishes I didn’t go. After all, there’s so much to be done at home. I still have to prepare a sermon and Bible study for Sunday. I still need to get in touch with people from church. I still need time with my wife and son.

Though these conferences are meant for refreshment, renewal, and restoration, they can feel like work, stress, and, even, a poor use of time.

How silly of me. I lead worship upwards of 60 times a year. During these conferences, I finally get to sit in the pew and hear God’s Word spoken to me. Though I too receive communion on a biweekly basis, these are the few opportunities when the words “given and poured out for you” are not spoken by me but to me. Though at Atonement we share in the work of the kingdom and encourage one another, at conference we fellow pastors encourage one another in the work of the pastoral ministry.

I wonder if there isn’t something you can relate to with this. Weekly worship is meant for refreshment, renewal, and restoration. But it can sometimes feel like a whole day’s work just to get there. It can be stressful as you think of what you could be doing with your Sunday morning. It may even feel like a poor use of time, since you could easily read the Bible or listen to a sermon at home.

Though you can and would find it worthwhile to study God’s Word at home, at church you can see with your own eyes that this Word is spoken to you and for you. At church, the body and blood of Christ “given and poured out for you” are given to you and pour over your lips for the forgiveness of your sins. Though you likely have Christian friends, even outside of Atonement, at church we specifically come together to receive encouragement from God and to give and receive encouragement to and from each other.

Blessed are those who dwell in his house. As the psalmists wrote, “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.” Though we do spend much more time outside the walls of the church, even one day there is what we can say is time well spent.