Come to the Altar

I’ve been away for a while. Not actually away just absent from writing. In all honesty I’ve been absent from a lot. I have let life get too hectic, I’ve let the trivial become more important, almost to the point of life changing. I know I shouldn’t and I am trying to rectify this moving forward. In church this morning something my Pastor said cause me to notice how absent I have been and maybe why.

Before service starts we have a run through so we can go over the flow of service and make sure everyone knows their cues and their responsibilities. We don’t do this so we are a polished unit but more so we don’t end up in the wrong place and in the way of the spirit moving through the church. This morning Pastor Jeff said “I’ve been given the word altar and alter.” That was what I needed this morning.

I don’t know why I have never put those words together but now that’s all I can think about. How many times have we been in church and been called to the altar? We are called to lay our burdens down at the altar, to “let go and let God.” I am not discounting that at all. I love the idea of my creator taking all of my troubles and easing my pain, my hurt, my worry, and my fears.

The problem is when we go to the altar, pour out or hearts, and often too many tears to count. We lay down our sorrows on the altar just like we have been taught, only to pick them up somewhere between the church door and the front door to our house. We have done the first step of laying everything down and forgotten the second step which allows them to stay where they were laid.

Laying them on the Altar does no good if we don’t Alter the way we are living. if nothing changes then nothing changes. God wants us to encounter him and allow him to alter what is in us, around us, and how we live.

God forgive me for laying troubles at your feet for you to deal with, only for me to pick them back up and carry them because I could make it to the altar but I refused to make it through the alter. I am weak, I am broken, I am YOURS and I am going to look like it now.

I love y’all!