It seems like such a waste of all the good unblemished animals and birds and grain and bread sacrificed as offerings. Burning all of this up. When it could have all been put to good Godly use. But I suppose it's a lot like the woman anointing Jesus' feet with expensive perfume that His disciples thought could be sold and the money put to good use. But is anything given to God ever a waste? No. But, much that we give to God is wasted on ourselves to make it easier and more entertaining for us to worship, to believe, to be comfortable as we study. If the classroom or parking lot isn't big enough, the preacher not entertaining enough, the song service not dynamic enough, we have a problem. But does God have a problem?
In a world where so many go to such lengths and suffer such discomfort to find God, we seek to make it so comfortable and easy. Would we commit our mission funds to a country where so much was spent with so little return?
I remember a time when as a brotherhood we criticized our fellow Christians -- the Catholics -- for spending such lavish amounts on cathedrals. At least, those buildings were constructed as monuments to glorify God with airy spaces and lofty ceilings to communicate His grandeur and power to the simplest of people. But then, today, we spend lavish amounts on gyms and stages and kitchens and technology that we claim will glorify God and point people to Him. Are we so different from that which we once criticized? Do we ask ourselves these questions? Do we have enough institutional memory to remember what we once criticized and now embraced? Or do we just go with the flow? We're just doing what man has always done. And God is in the exception and the exceptional.
Today we preach about our membership's credit card debt and love of stuff and then we decorate our church with flat screen televisions and hire an art director and invite listeners to download the sermon on their ipod and go into debt and wonder why they're not doing what we say when they're too busy doing what we do.*
I, personally, already spend too much on myself and too little on others. So, I certainly don't want to go to church only to find they're spending what I give them on me.
Are we wasting on God? Or are we wasting on ourselves and saying we're giving it to God? God forgive me. God forgive us.
*This list of church stuff is not a composite of several congregations or made up...but I wish it was.
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