I recently polled a bunch of pastor’s wives about what ridiculous arguments they have seen take place in their church ministries over the years. Sadly, the list is way too long to share here. Some of the “highlights” if you can even call it that, are things like placement of a coat rack in the foyer, color of the carpet, wall colors, design of the chairs on the stage, organ vs. piano, what the pastor’s wife wears, sitting in someone’s spot, pews vs. chairs, cutting down of problematic trees, the placement of candles on the altar, changing the layout of the church bulletin, how money is spent, music too loud, music not loud enough, lights in the auditorium too bright, lights in the auditorium not bright enough… One pastor’s wife added, “We can’t change this or that because it will offend Wilma who started the program in 1960”.
Oh, wow. I enjoy laughing, so I want to laugh these things off. Yet, I seriously can’t get it out of my head that while we are acting like children, Satan is actually the one laughing. As long as he can keep us arguing about things that won’t matter one iota in Heaven, then we are less likely to witness to the lost, we are less likely to have unity, and we are less likely to encourage and build each other up. Instead, we are far MORE likely to spiritually die off one by one – and bring others with us.
I am a visual person, and I enjoy editing videos, so all of this is playing in my head as I type. I visualize people overseas (who own far, far less than we do) desperately missing public, corporate worship because it is illegal. They are forced to meet in secret. They quietly spend hours studying Scripture together in harsh conditions. The scene of devoted Jesus followers dissolves into a close-up of red-faced “Wilma” in the “Land of the Free”. She is huffing and puffing after the church business meeting. She can’t wait to find the closest ear that will listen to her complaints. That clip dissolves into another of a group of people walking out of church discussing everything they found wrong with the church members, church staff, church bulletin, and the church service, rather than discussing what they learned from the church sermon. And all of this takes place while Satan watches and laughs at our pettiness and ineffectiveness.
Listen up. This is foolishness, and God is not pleased. We read all of the time about the whining children of Israel, and we piously shake our heads as we think of how terrible they acted. Hello! We are often way more guilty than they were. We are absolutely spoiled with blessings and freedoms, and yet we spend our ticking down time on this earth arguing over coat racks. We have all been guilty of this, and it’s absolutely sinful. It’s a mockery to the name of Jesus. When we act this way, we are doing more harm than good to Christianity as a whole. The world is watching us. Other Christians are watching us. And soberingly, children are watching us.
Let’s knock off the foolishness. We have a job to do, Christians – and nothing in that job description includes arguing about church décor. Could you still serve Jesus on a dirt floor with no posh pews, with no a/c or overhead lighting? Could you still serve Jesus in a place with no extra money for fancy decorations and freshly painted walls? We have our priorities backwards and our mindset is temporal.
Instead of feeding into this foolishness, let’s do what we must to obtain and preserve unity. Let’s spend our time doing what we are called to do – Loving Jesus, loving others, and sharing the gospel to a lost and dying world.
“I’ll bring you more than a song, for a song in itself is not what You have required. I’ll search much deeper within through the way things appear. You’re looking into my heart. I’m coming back to the heart of worship and it’s all about You. It’s all about You, Jesus. I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it. When it’s all about You. It’s all about You, Jesus.”
Ephesians 4:2,3,29-32
“With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
Just a Mom’s View 