I am sorry to say this to you because we all look so forward to the weekend. Wasn’t it the band Loverboy who sang, “Everybodys working for the weekend!”. Yes, the weekends are a time of rest and we should all take advantage of our sabbath time and our down time. With today’s technology and being constantly online it has gotten harder and harder to find that “away from it all” downtime. All that said, I will put forward that Sunday, and in particular our church time on Sunday is an important first step of the work week and we should consider it really the first workday of the week in our preparation to have the kind of week we truly desire. I say that from the context that we are reading this and trying to live out God’s purpose in our work lives and as such we are in constant preparation for what the day, the week, the month, the year, the lifetime has in store for us. So, let’s go back to why Sunday is so important to get going in the right way for our workweek. Those who are called into the ministry have been called to ready and equip all the rest of us who carry the Word and the purpose of God into our work week and to our offices. Ephesians 4:11-12 says: “He is the one who gave these gifts to the church; the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” What a great assurance. God gave the pastors at our church the gifts needed to equip us in the work that God has asked us to do for His purpose. And with that assurance, why would we ever miss an opportunity on Sunday to not be in church to gain the wisdom, lessons and equipment we need to make it through our work week. Many leaders hold their weekly staff meeting on Monday mornings to do just that for their teams; to be sure everyone is ready, prepared and aligned to take on the week. God does that for us with His staff meetings every Sunday in His church and he gives each of us an early jump on the week. So, next time we are thinking of blowing off Sunday church, we might think whether or not we would lightly blow off God’s Staff Meeting that He has prepared for us. Think of Sunday as the first positive move into the workweek and know that you are being better equipped and prepared to meet whatever it is that you will face in the coming week.

Reference: Ephesians 4:11-12 (New Living Testament)