Expectations

What would life be like if we expected the same things from the rest of the world that we expected from our church?

• …what if we stopped going to Walmart if they didn't have a greeter by the door one day?
• …what if our favorite band wrote one song we didn't like, so we never bought another CD from them again?
• ...what if we found out that the guy who serves us in the drive thru every day didn't know our names so we stopped going to McDonald's?
• …what if the Red Cross changed the hours of their local office to close 1 hour earlier, so we refused to donate ever again?

Or

…what if we based our voting on which politician spoke the shortest amount of time rather than who spoke the truth?

…what if we told the local soup kitchen to stop bothering us every time they asked for donations or assistance?

Or even worse,

• …what if QT didn't find us better friends than the ones we have so we told everyone that QT didn't care about people?
• …what if our bank president didn't show up to our child's birthday party so we moved our account elsewhere?

Some of those questions made you laugh because they were so ridiculous and shallow – no one would do such a thing!

Others sounded downright stupid.

A few might have offended you because you saw the parallel.

There are a few things that I think so many of us fail to realize about church:

1. It's made up of imperfect people JUST LIKE US who work hard and miss the mark on occasion – JUST LIKE US.
2. We are perfectly willing to make little things deal-breakers with a church that we would be laugh at or be offended by if the roles were reversed.
3. We invest little or no time, energy, prayer, study, or finances in the church or on its behalf. When we're asked to do so, we make excuses – yet we are vocal when we don't like the decisions made by those who chose to get involved and sacrifice for it.
4. We expect the church to fulfill roles that it was never supposed to do - and then we punish it by not attending anymore if it fails at them.

I believe that God is calling each one of us – myself included – to take a new and fresh look at what He has called us to do and to be. It is time that the resources of the church are reallocated to the things God called us to focus on rather than to be wasted on internal issues that should not even exist.

What would the world look like if we did just that?

Comments

[Mike Goolsbay]

Awesome!

[Rick Walker]

Ouch! Been there done that.

This strikes close to home and even though it hurts to see my reflection in it, this message can not go without acknowledgment.

Thanks
Rick