Twenty Reasons Why You Must Not Be Late For Services (Including Meetings and Appointments)

1. Being late for an appointment is stealing somebody’s time as that person will be forced to wait for you.

2. An employee who habitually shows up late for work is stealing the company’s time and God will not bless such an employee for such theft.

3. Being late for services or appointments is an act of unfaithfulness.

4. Being late is a lack of respect for others. If you respect someone you will be on time. If the president calls for you, you will come hours before time. Why do you show up late for church? The answer is, you have no respect for anybody at church, including God.

5. God is always on time for church services. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Mt 18:20)

6. One common difference between successful people and failures is how they value time.

7. When you show up late for meetings you are telling others that, “I’m more important than any one of you!”

8. Being late for appointments can break relationships.

9. Those who are habitually late for no good reason will lose the respect of others.

10. Being late for services is a violation of the Golden Rule. We are to treat others in the way we want to be treated ourselves (Mt 7:12).

Twenty Reasons Why You Must Not Be Late For Services (Including Meetings and Appointments)

11. It’s boring to wait for late comers. Imagine you are the one chairing a meeting and half of the people are not there when the meeting starts? Imagine you are teaching a class and half the students are not there when the lesson starts? Imagine you are the student who came in time and the teacher is not there on time? Nobody enjoys waiting for late comers!!!

12. Being late for services is a violation of the Greatest Commandment. We are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mk 12:30).

13. When we are late for services we indicate that worshipping God is not as important as what made us to be late. If God is Number 1 in your life, you will attend church in time.

14. A person who is generally on time for other appointments but is usually late for church (and intercession in particular) is probably experiencing severe backsliding.

15. Being late robs you the opportunity to serve in God’s house. Preparations for services are done hours before the service. When you arrive after the service starts, you miss the opportunity to serve.

16. Things always go wrong when somebody comes late. No matter how best things have been planned, if somebody shows up late, those plans fail dismally.

17. When you show up late for services you miss certain points of truth or testimonies that could have changed your life.

18. It is the devil’s tactic to delay people from being on time so that he steals from them and hinder the progress of the church. In our churches let us conquer this. When you show up late, you have fallen into one of the devil’s traps.

19. When we are late for services, visitors feel out of place because there is no one to welcome them and make them feel at home.

20. Those who arrive late distract those who came early as they move machairs, and distract the flow of the service with their shoes.

Coming in time shows you value what’s being done. At the same time coming late shows that you don’t value the service. From today let’s plan to arrive early for services. Plan to arrive at least 15 minutes before services begin. They say, “Better late than never,” but I say, “Better never late!”