Brother Terry Wayne Benton shared this interesting reality from an experience in China. He wrote:

Christians have to find secret ways to get and some travel two hours to get to a private home to meet with other Christians. One female disciple asked, “Why doesn’t everybody in America go to church?” She thought everyone who has such freedom to assemble, mostly conveniently, would take advantage of such a tremendous opportunity. What she didn’t realize is that Christians in America do not have the same hunger as those who hunger for the privilege in China.

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matthew 5.6). You have to first “taste and see that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2.1-3). These want to keep feeding their souls with the good word of God and fellowship with others. 

The girl in China hungers for fellowship with other disciples. Here it is often taken for granted to the point that the hunger is gone. If you are not first driven by your own hunger, you will find other things to replace the void left in your heart. If that void is filled by Jesus, you find ways to do what you want to do, and that is by life or by death to magnify the name of Jesus (Philippians 1.20). 

The freedom to assemble in fellowship with the Lord’s church does not create the hunger. The hunger must first be in the heart so that you long to find ways to assemble, not find excuses no to do so. We are thankful for those who have the hunger here and all over the world. May their tribe increase!