Continuing my thought from yesterday's post, I want to start today with a contrast. You enter a building through its front doors. As you enter, the smell of garbage immediately strikes your senses. As you look to the side, you see a number of garbage bags that haven't been carried out. The floor appears to have stains all over it. There's clutter along the walls, so much so that you find you have to follow a little pathway through certain parts of the entry room. It's unkempt, and doesn't really seem to be well cared for.
Later on that day, you enter another building. It's pretty shiny. There are some nice decorative tables with a few well-designed decorations on them. Your nose is greeted without any real powerful smell, maybe just a hint of some kind of air freshener. It's well lit, it shows signs that there is a regular attempt to keep it neat and tidy. Overall, it gives the impression that its residents care for it.
One of these two is likely to repel people. The other one is more open and inviting. Building on what I wrote about yesterday, let's just say that these buildings were churches. One of these two is pretty likely to send people scurrying away, likely never to return. The other one may be more open and welcoming. It removes at least some of the obstacles that could get in the way of the hearing of the Gospel message.
As God's people, we can look at the surroundings of our places of worship and ask ourselves, 'What could possible be an obstacle here that prevents people from hearing the Gospel?' What could potentially distract people from hearing the message that God has for their ears and their souls? I'm not saying that we need to keep our facilities bright and shiny and spotless, but I am saying that there may be obstacles to the hearing of the Gospel message that we can do something about. I would even be so bold as to suggest there if there are things that blatantly distract from hearing the Gospel, that's sin on the part of God's people. We are not loving our neighbors if we maintain a facility that drives them away from even hearing the message.
I would invite you to think about the places of worship that you enter this coming weekend. Take a look around with the eyes of someone entering for the first time. What is there that could easily distract from hearing the Gospel message? Is it something that can be taken care of by God's people? What could potentially interfere with their hearing of the message? True, such things are not the Gospel message, but if they obstruct people from hearing the message, that's something that we can do something about.
Later on that day, you enter another building. It's pretty shiny. There are some nice decorative tables with a few well-designed decorations on them. Your nose is greeted without any real powerful smell, maybe just a hint of some kind of air freshener. It's well lit, it shows signs that there is a regular attempt to keep it neat and tidy. Overall, it gives the impression that its residents care for it.
One of these two is likely to repel people. The other one is more open and inviting. Building on what I wrote about yesterday, let's just say that these buildings were churches. One of these two is pretty likely to send people scurrying away, likely never to return. The other one may be more open and welcoming. It removes at least some of the obstacles that could get in the way of the hearing of the Gospel message.
As God's people, we can look at the surroundings of our places of worship and ask ourselves, 'What could possible be an obstacle here that prevents people from hearing the Gospel?' What could potentially distract people from hearing the message that God has for their ears and their souls? I'm not saying that we need to keep our facilities bright and shiny and spotless, but I am saying that there may be obstacles to the hearing of the Gospel message that we can do something about. I would even be so bold as to suggest there if there are things that blatantly distract from hearing the Gospel, that's sin on the part of God's people. We are not loving our neighbors if we maintain a facility that drives them away from even hearing the message.
I would invite you to think about the places of worship that you enter this coming weekend. Take a look around with the eyes of someone entering for the first time. What is there that could easily distract from hearing the Gospel message? Is it something that can be taken care of by God's people? What could potentially interfere with their hearing of the message? True, such things are not the Gospel message, but if they obstruct people from hearing the message, that's something that we can do something about.
Well said and very true, let's strive to improve our physical presense along with our spiritual presense.
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