Keep It Simple

A spur of the moment decision this morning carried me to a worship service in a small Baptist Church hidden down a winding road in the north Georgia mountains.  There were about twenty-five or so souls seated in the pews.  They all knew one another.  They had all known one another for most of their lives.  They shared memories of the saints who used to sit alongside of them in those worn pews.  The pastor walked to and fro up front along the first row of pews with his Bible in his hand and with a heart full of love for his people.    

It was a church that lacked the glitz and glamour of the megachurch.  There was not even a video screen on the wall to guide people in their singing.  As the preacher preached, people across the sanctuary had their opened Bible in their laps and their fingers moving across the page to follow the reading they were hearing.  It was obvious that those who worshiped there loved one another, shared each other's burdens, loved their pastor, and most of all, they loved the Lord. I was grateful to be among them in worship this morning.   For every big church there must be a hundred or more churches like the one I attended this morning.  Those small rural churches are often dismissed by the larger church as insignificant, but they are far from insignificant.  

The small church people hold tightly to the core values of Biblical faith.  Jesus is not an idea, but a living  risen Christ who is here with us and who is good to keep His promise about preparing a place in the heavenly home.  They get through all the things life can throw at them without the help of a therapist.  Instead they cling to their faith when others might be tempted to abandon it.  I love being with such folks.  They remind me to keep it simple.