Do I need to go to church?

Much of Christian fellowship is built not on dramatic acts of self-denial, but on hundreds of small, almost invisible sacrifices that teach us to love one another.

When we engage with others in church, here are some of the sacrifices we make.

• Listening when we would rather be doing something else. 

• Staying after a service to talk with someone who needs encouragement. 

• Attending meetings, Bible studies, or events that require effort. 

• Helping someone move, visit the sick, or provide a meal. 

• Changing plans to meet another person's needs. 

• Giving rides. 

• Waiting for slower people. 

• Accommodating schedules that differ from our own. 

• Listening to long-winded stories. 

• Enduring repeated complaints. 

 

• Bearing with personalities that irritate us. 

• Introducing ourselves to strangers. 

• Sitting beside someone who makes us uneasy. 

• Entering difficult conversations. 

• Serving in areas where we feel inadequate. 

• Admitting we were wrong. 

• Accepting correction. 

• Letting others receive recognition. 

• Asking forgiveness. 

• Remaining silent when we want to defend ourselves. 

• Singing songs we would not choose. 

• Accepting different styles, traditions, and personalities. 

• Yielding our opinions for the sake of unity. 

• Allowing others to have their way in nonessential matters. 

• Carrying another person's burdens. 

• Rejoicing with those who rejoice when we are struggling. 

• Weeping with those who weep when we feel tired.

 

• Continuing to care when caring is costly. 

• Giving financially. 

• Sharing possessions. 

• Opening our homes. 

• Supporting those in need.

 

• Being accountable to others. 

• Receiving advice. 

• Allowing others to speak into our lives. 

• Working as part of a body instead of acting alone.

 

Perhaps this is one of the greatest hidden sacrifices. 

Love continually interrupts us.

 Nearly every meaningful relationship requires a continual dying to self. Most of these sacrifices are small enough that they scarcely feel heroic, yet they are often the very things through which Christ is formed in us.

As one writer observed, the great test of Christian love is not whether we would die for our brethren, but whether we can patiently live with them. 

The person who talks too long, arrives late, asks for help at an inconvenient moment, or sees things differently from us becomes an opportunity to practice the kind of love that 

"does not seek its own."

These little sacrifices are the hidden currency of every healthy church, family, and friendship. They are often unnoticed by men, but never by God. "Through love serve one another" (Galatians 5:13). The service is usually found in the small things.