Am I A Pew Warmer?

Within the church of Christ there are many distinct and important roles that every member of the body has a part in (Rom. 12:4, 5). These roles vary from elder, deacon, and preacher, to the encourager, the food deliverer, and the card writer. Without a doubt, there is a multitude of roles any Christian can fill to be pleasing to God. However, one role we all need to be wary of attaching our name to is the pew warmer. “Who are the pew warmers?”, you ask. Pew warmers are exactly what they sound like, they are Christians who simply warm a pew week after week. Having said that, let us briefly consider some questions to ask ourselves to make sure we do not fill the role of a pew warmer here at Lake Country.

First, we need to ask ourselves, “How much effort am I giving God?”. It seems the most effort a pew warmer will give to God is to get in their car and attend services. Certainly, it is admirable when people take worship seriously and place an emphasis on being there, because that is what God expects (Acts 2:42; 20:7; Heb. 10:25). However, if the only effort God gets out of us weekly is our endeavor to be at worship, we have severely failed Him. We need to remember, when we became Christians, we were raised to “walk in newness of life”, not raised to walk one day out of the week (Rom. 6:4). What kind of effort are we giving God? The answer to that question might just determine whether or not we are simply warming a pew.

Second, we need to ask ourselves, “How much time am I giving God?”. When it comes to the attributes of a pew warmer, their time for the Lord is greatly limited. For some they have a reservation with God for one hour a week. Others might be a little more generous and grant Him four or five hours, but that is nothing to hang our hat on. Every week God blesses us with 168 hours, so if we are only giving Him five hours of our time, we are essentially saying, “God is only worth 3% of my week.” If we want to make sure we are not just warming a pew, we need to spend more time studying God’s Word, serving people, and seeking to save the lost.

Finally, we need to ask ourselves, “How much priority am I giving to God?” When you really think about it, where we place God on our priority list determines whether or not we will be a pew warmer. When God is number one and we seek His kingdom first, we will always do more than sit on a pew (Matt. 6:33).When God is number one and we love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we will always do more than sit on a pew (Mark 12:30). When God is number one and we want to keep His commandments, we will always do more than sit on a pew (John 14:15). What does our priority list look like? Are we willing to stay a few minutes after to write a card, or visit with our brethren, or is our afternoon nap more important? If we have God in any position other than first, we can easily become a pew warmer.

While there are many roles we as members of the church should have a heart and desire to fill, being a pew warmer is not one of them (Matt. 25:30). With that in mind, may we all have the ambition to use the talents God has blessed us with to serve Him in a way that brings Him glory an honor (Col. 3:23, 24).