Do I have to?

Imagine this with me. If you're a parent, it's likely that you've heard it said by your child or teen. That complaining groan. Even if you're not a parent, I'm sure you've heard it or worse you've been the one to say it.

To be completely honest, as a teenager, I have been in the situation of having to say this complaining groan. Do I have to do this? And then the complaining just goes on and on. Do I have to take out the garbage? Do I have to go to bed now? Do I have to do the dishes?

Do I have to go youth group?

If you're a teen and you have chores, then I imagine you probably have to do all the above things with one exception. You don't have to go to youth group unless of course your parents make you. Youth group though shouldn't be a have to thing. It's more of a want to thing.

Yesterday, I noticed some people missing from youth group. I messaged a few of them when I got home last night. One of them responded back to my question about why they missed youth group saying that they didn't know and that they didn't have to go to youth group every week.

She had a point there. She doesn't have to go every week. She has no one forcing her to go. She's much like me.

For as long as I have been going to my current church (an awesome Nazarene church at that), I have never been forced to go to anything church related. It has solely been because I wanted to go. I guess you could say the exception was my Aunt Ann making me go to VBS that one day, but the rest of the days, I wanted to go back. Growing up in the Catholic church, I always had to go to Catechism, which I hated. My mom finally said she would "homeschool" me through it. We didn't really do that though, so I never got confirmed into that church. I never really wanted to go to that church. I never really do want to go to that church anymore even when we have the family tradition of going to midnight mass. I just don't want to go to it. So my parents haven't made me go in a while.

Why do I go to youth group?

There are a multitude of reasons I go. I don't have to go. I want to go. I have this awesome desire to be with other Christian friends and this fire for God. No one forces me to go unless you count myself when I'm having a bad week. Some weeks I don't want to go, but I continue to go no matter how I'm feeling about it. That may seem like I have to go, but I don't really have to be there if I don't want to be there. This might be crazy to say, but I crave youth group and church. It's one of my biggest cravings that I get constantly.

I don't really get why people think they have to go to church. You shouldn't go because you have to. You should go because you want to go.