Here is good counsel for us all. Let us consider it a joy to come before our God, to enter into His house, to worship. All too often we act like our attendance in corporate worship is an obligation, a duty, a chore… we think about the difficulty, the time, our own desires, the things we could be doing, the ways that we would rather be spending our energy. Perhaps we are dissatisfied with the music, the sermon, the preacher, the people… but in large part, all of those things are peripheral… none of those things are the reason we should be in church. We should be in church to worship. To set ourselves aside, to lay down our agendas, our preferences, our pretenses and to focus our entire being on the God who IS … we should come into the house of God because God is good and He is worthy of worship. We are to come into His presence because we are filled with the joy of the Lord… the dryness of our souls can be palpable, the sorrow of our lives becomes oppressive, the pain of our days is crippling. And the cure for all of those maladies is the presence of the Lord. Even when we do not feel Him, He is there; even when we doubt, He is faithful; even when we fail, He is true. Beloved of God, take your eyes off of yourself, your surroundings, your circumstances and set them on your God. Give praise to Him for all the good He has done for you, worship Him for His mercy, His truth, His love and you will find that all the rest of your reasons for avoiding His house will vanish like morning fog.