We are blessed to live in a time where technology allows us to hear all kinds of teachings and enjoy all kinds of Christian music. But we must be careful with this comfort so that we don’t forget the sacredness of what we are doing.

God has always wanted to have a personal relationship with His children. He has established a series of laws to ensure that His people remain pure so that nothing separates them from His presence. When they sinned, God gave them a tool to erase that stain, to restore the relationship. By placing the sin on an animal and by sacrificing this animal, there was the image of the renunciation of sin, a way of detaching oneself from this bad action. But as they repeated this ritual, the Israelites ended up forgetting the reason for which they were doing this. Their sacrifices were therefore no longer significant, and God complained about it. “I will not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are continually before Me. (…) Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High” (Psalm 50:8 and 14 NKJV). And it wasn’t the first time He mentioned it. “So Samuel said: Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22 NKJV).

Today, we no longer sacrifice animals to restore our relationship with God. But we have all kinds of other rituals. We listen to teachings in church or online, give financial offerings, sing hymns, etc. All of this is to connect us to God. And to foster our personal relationship with Him. However, after practicing these rituals for a while, we may forget why we are doing them. And then our beautiful rituals mean nothing. Shortly after, it becomes easy to let them go. Since they are no longer worth anything, and that, of course, is the greatest danger.

We also have this bad habit in other areas. For example, we took a specific direction for our singleness, we had a dream for our future marriage, and for that, we had decided to post a verse on our wall. But as we looked at this verse every day, it started to lose its meaning. We can still read it daily, but faster and faster, without even really thinking. We had made good resolutions to keep our single life pure, but we forgot our motives. As soon as our actions no longer make sense, we end up abandoning them. When it comes to keeping our singleness pure, abandoning our principles is very dangerous.

What we need to do is remember why we made our resolutions, why we chose to participate in certain rituals. We must strive to keep the Lord’s Day holy. Not just following rituals, but remembering for whom we are doing all this for. If we cannot travel to attend an assembly, we must take the time to diligently listen to teachings online. Let’s put everything aside and consider this time we give to God as special and precious. Let us always remember the importance of contacting our brothers and sisters. It is our duty as a member of a spiritual family. Let us take this task as a sacred act, something that has great value. Just like our service to God. Let us take the time to evaluate our hearts, and make sure that we still serve with joy, considering our work an honor.