Tuesday, December 16, 2014
A lady carrying two grocery bags boarded a metro bus one day and had to stand because all the seats were taken. Becoming more agitated when she noticed that several men were sitting down, she said in a loud voice, “The problem nowadays is that there are no more gentlemen in the world.” One wise guy quickly responded, “No ma’am, that’s not the problem. The problem is that there are no more seats.” I am reminded of this corny joke whenever I hear of members who complain that their church doesn’t grow because they have “no vision.” As was the case with our opening joke, the problem is often not the lack of vision but the lack of funds. There is an old phrase in Spanish that says, “Al que quiere celeste, que le cueste.” It generally means that if you want the good stuff, you’ve got to pay for it.” A more literal translation would be, “If you want something heavenly, its going to cost you something.”
Just as with our own personal budgets, any organization, churches included, should not even consider additions or improvements if it can barely cope with it’s financial obligations. Often, those who complain the most because their church is not moving or growing are those who are doing the least and may be, in fact, the ones mostly responsible for the lack of no growth or “vision.” Their gripes are about as senseless as those who complain about elected officials when they themselves did dot vote. And please don’t think that this is something new, one notable example being found in the small book of the prophet Haggai. This is part of the New Living Translation’s rendering of God’s message through the prophet: “This is what the LORD Almighty says: The people are saying, 'The time has not yet come to rebuild the LORD's house -- the Temple.'" So the LORD sent this message through the prophet Haggai: "Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins?” (Haggai 1:2-4)
Please don’t think that this happens in all churches because it doesn’t. There are many churches around, especially the large ones, where lack of funds will never be an issue. Here too, please don’t think that just because a church has all the money it needs, it means that they are doing everything right as far as God is concerned. You may want to revisit Revelation 3:14-22. The general message I wanted to convey today was this: Lets not complain about any situation in our lives, especially if we are doing little or nothing at all to change it. Let us rather focus on the things we have and not the things we lack, and lets be thankful to God for them. When we do that, we will be happy, and after all, God’s people are a happy people. That is why David wrote: “Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.” ( Psalm 144:15)
Memory verse for the week: (John 3:16) “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should, not perish but have everlasting life.”
