Paul Harvey once reported on his noon news of a 73 year old man who was pinned beneath his farm tractor for four days and nights in driving rain and a terrible storm. Concerned friends went to see about him just in time. It seems that he is going to live after his ordeal, but he will lose a leg below the knee.

Several newspapers picked up on this little story and centered upon the amazing fact that a 73 year old man could live after being pinned beneath a tractor for four days. Yes, all of that is amazing, but a more amazing fact is what caused his friends to go to see about him. One friend gave as the reason for this visit that, "He missed prayer meeting Wednesday night." That’s all? He just missed one service and his friends went to check on him?

One preacher remarked, "I believe there are two possible suppositions we can make about this incident.” Consider the following:

On the one hand we could suppose that this man was so faithful and regular in his church attendance that everyone knew that if he was not there, something had to be seriously wrong. A question: What if you had been the one pinned under the tractor? Would your absence have been noticed? Or, are you so irregular in attendance that everyone would assume you decided to sleep in, or go to he lake? How many services have you missed in the last three months? Could you honestly classify yourself as a faithful, regular worshipper?

On the other hand, we could assume that the people in this man’s congregation have such a concern for the souls of men that when anyone, no matter how regular or irregular they are in attendance, missed a service they went to see about them.

I don’t know which of the preacher’s assumptions might be the more plausible, but I would like to see more men and more congregations like what he describes.

Christians need to remember Hebrews 10:22-25. No Christian can draw near unto God, hold fast the confession of his hope, or consider his brethren to provoke them unto love and good works who forsakes the assembling of the brethren together.

I have observed some church members that pick and choose which services to attend according to their mood or according to what TV program is scheduled. These folks are here-again-gone-again and hit-and-miss at the services.

Weak brethren seem to think, "Well, so what if I’m just at services every now and then? If that’s the worst sin I ever commit, I’ll make it to heaven." But are you sure of that? The Bible says that all sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:1-2; Romans 6:23). We can lose our souls over just one unrepented sin (Acts 8:13-24).

How many times does a person have to miss to be wrong? The first time is a sin as much as the fourth time or the fortieth time—if it is willful absence.

Jesus said, "I know thy works, that thou are neither cold not hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou are lukewarm, and neither cold not hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:15-16).

Are you cold? Just exactly how faithful are you? Would you be missed if you missed just one service? Do you check on your missing brethren?