This is a hotbed issue for me. We live in an age where many people openly question (or outright deny) the existence of God and/or the existence of Jesus. Oddly enough, pastors in the pulpits have been scratching their heads for years trying to figure out why.
For some inexplicable reason, some folks seem to be figuring that there aren't enough latte bars in the churches. So they build coffeeshops. Or maybe professional multimedia presentations. So they invest in a production crew, using money raised from tithes (which were intended as a "storehouse" for the poor and needy) to pay the crew and to produce fancy films explaining away the plan of salvation.
It's nothing new; in fact if I say that the moneychangers are taking over the temple, I will get nods of agreement even in these same circles.
I am reminded on a regular basis, though, that people are ALWAYS drawn to sincere, heartfelt expressions of Christian faith. Recently, when driving in to get some supplies from a local store, I passed a woman outside with a sign that simply said "Out of Gas". Now, having tried to do things for the poor and the homeless for many years, I am ALWAYS skeptical when I see people in that situation. I'm no fool, and I've seen every con job there is. And so I thought long and hard about whether I should stop and help. She was not in a place where I could stop and learn her story, and besides, even getting someone's story is not the best tell. The people who are experts at gaming the system have the best stories, and the people who truly need help are often so embarrased at having to ask that their apprehension could very easily be mistaken for dishonesty.
So (not to my credit, but to God's), I decided to help her without knowing more of the backstory. It's God's money anyways, and I figure if someone "takes advantage" of what I give them, it was never my money in the first place, and thus it is not my place to be offended. I did, for a moment, wonder if it was the wisest thing.
I didn't have to wait long for an answer. Her tears and gratitude gave me all of the answer I needed.
We live in a world where it's easy to be callous. We've been gamed so many times, we've had people take advantage of our good nature (and, to my own discredit, I have at times sadly taken advantage of others' good natures), that we've become cynics. We want to help, but we want to know that we're helping and not enabling. In other words (and this stings as much to type as it likely does to read), we often attach strings to our "generosity".
The truth is, if we attach strings, it's not generosity, it's a transaction.
The reason more people don't believe in Jesus is because they don't SEE Jesus. We TALK about trusting God, but we make sure to pay up our insurance premiums. We use pithy platitudes like "God will provide", yet we keep our pantries full even when the local food bank is asking us what we can give. We hold back our blessings because we believe WE provided the blessings, not God. We have a form of Godliness, but deny its power, something we are warned against in 2 Timothy 3:1-5.
I believe that if more people SAW Jesus in a church willing to serve, they would believe, and they would follow.
Now, when I presented the story I came across the other day, I deliberately left off "the rest of the story" because, the truth is, this article was written more about the conviction in my own heart than it is the conviction I see in other people's lives. Here is the rest of the story:
I had spent the weekend in Dallas to represent Hobo's List and participate in the Occupy Dallas march. On the way down, I passed two guys walking on the side of the road. But I was on a schedule and stopping seemed rather inconvenient. On the way back, I passed at least one, but I was seriously wanting to get home. My rationalizations for passing them are irrelevant; the fact is that I did. The way back was also compounded with concerns about how much money was left for the remainder of the month. I had taken down a decent load of ewaste for recycling, but not enough to profit off of my trip. And, as always during this time of year, there was the impending fear of the approaching holidays.
But shortly before I pulled in to the store, I had called home to check in. My oldest daughter mentioned a rather generous holiday gift from some friends, one that certainly didn't take away the normal concerns about money, but did make some of those questions a little easier to answer.
In other words, I must reluctantly confess that I did not give out of my need, as with the widow's mite, but out of my excess.
If we want to change the way the church is perceived, perhaps the best way to do so is to change the way WE behave. If people see Christians as self absorbed materialists who talk a good game but have difficulty living it, that will affect how they respond. But if they see us as willing to give EVERYTHING to ensure the comforts of those who are less privileged than ourselves, then maybe, just maybe, they will see a church worth joining.
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