I know that most of you are (or definitely should be) regular readers of CaNN and may have read this. But for those of you who haven't seen it, I commend it to you. And I ask you: How many times in your life have you written a letter like this, or had such a conversation with someone?
Dear Greg,
It was good to see you in church Christmas Eve. This is getting to be a tradition with us, since I ran into you there last Christmas Eve too.
We've been friends for awhile now, so let me get right to the point, and I hope you won't think me too pushy. I wish you'd come back and join us in church sometime other than Christmas — say, next Sunday.
I think I know what your first reaction is; it's the same one I used to have some years ago. The moment you read my invitation, you began to feel cornered, and half a dozen different excuses sprang up in your mind. I work hard during the week and I need to rest over the weekend. I just can't find a church that "gets it right." I'm a Christian, but I don't need to go to church; I can worship in my own time and my own way. And so on.
Forgive me for being blunt, but I don't buy any of it. I think I know you well enough to say that you remind me a lot of me. During all those years when I used to make those same excuses, I always knew deep down that none of them was the real reason. The real reason was that I wanted to call myself a Christian without actually knowing Christ — and I was afraid that if I spent time in church I couldn't avoid seeing Him more than I'd find comfortable.
Matt Kaufman
Read all of it at: http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001187.cfm
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