Some Sundays are just hard in church. As a layperson or a staff leader, all of us have had Sundays when we wondered why we remained in that particular congregation. If that’s where you are, I strongly encourage you not to get focused on the “greener grass” today. Here’s why:
- The bad Sundays are seldom really as bad as they seemed. Separate yourself from Sunday by a few days, and your perspective often changes. What seemed horrible on Sunday isn’t as bad on Wednesday.
- The greener grass is never as green as it seems. No grass is perfect. Every patch of grass has its own problems that you can’t know about it until you’re living in it – and then it’s late to make a change. Even the Promised Land was filled with enemies.
- Looking to the greener grass is the wrong focus. If you need to look away from a tough Sunday, look to God. Pray. Listen. Pray some more.
- The greener grass is sometimes a distraction of the devil. He did it in the Garden of Eden, and he still does it today. He turns our attention to something new and untried, and we follow his misguided guidance.
- You’ll miss the good things that happened on that bad Sunday. That’s a demonic Garden of Eden strategy, too. Looking toward what seems greener often results in missing the present-tense blessings of God.
- Wherever you are, there will be tough Sundays. I don’t know a church leader whose Sundays have always been perfect. Rotten Sundays happen, even in the best churches.
- There’s often somebody on your greener grass who’s doing the same thing. Sometimes, a leader in that other church is looking to your church as his greener grass at the same time. Everybody has his own battles, and few people can know them all.
- God often teaches us the most in the not-so-green grass. The desert of a tough Sunday is a thirsty place that should drive us to the Living Water. Looking only to the greener grass can cause you to overlook the most intimate, desperate moments with your Creator and Redeemer.
- No grass stays green. Think about it—it’s possible that you once saw your current church as the “greener grass.” At least for this weekend, things have changed. Bad Sundays happen, and they’re going to come again. Learn to trust God when your own grass looks brown.
Church leaders, what would you add to this list? Help our readers who had a tough Sunday.
