“Missing church is a sin.” “You have the wrong priorities if you miss church.” “Except when they’re sick, faithful Christians are there when the doors are open.” Under these arguments is a belief that the quality of one’s heart can be measured by one’s attendance. Can it really?
Consider this: A person never misses church for years. Outside the church walls, he’s a heathen (and he knows this), but when the doors are open to the church building, he’s there. He’s a “faithful Christian”. He then makes a change and chooses to no longer be a heathen outside the church building. He realizes and does his best to be a “living sacrifice” every day, not just Sunday. Then, one Sunday night he is completely out of the worship mood; he’s not leaving God, but a period of worship is the last thing on his mind. He decides to stay at home. This happens occasionally, but he’s mostly at church when the doors are open. Regardless, he’s not a heathen on Monday morning.
So, is he better off in his perfect attendance or his imperfect attendance? Surely we can agree the good heart behind his imperfect attendance—unbecoming of a “faithful Christian”, as it may be—is preferable to the bad heart behind his perfect attendance.