And then we go to church …

One of the fast food chains used to have an advertising slogan of, “… have it your way …”

Smart!

Why?

We tailor everything for ourselves.

Imagine the family at the dinner table. There’s burgers and condiments on the table. Some of the burgers are rare, some medium rare, some medium, and the good ones are well done (that’s right!).

Why?

Because we don’t all like our burgers cooked the same way. And we don’t put exactly the same condiments on our burgers.

Go through the home and you’ll see that each personal space … usually the bedrooms … are decorated differently to express our individual interests and likes.

Go shopping, buy a suit, and you have it tailored to best fit you.

Go shopping for a car … you got it, you’ll look for what you like and what meets your needs.

Put up a personal web page, and you design it in a way that expresses who you are.

Go to work and you decorate your cubicle or office with things that interest you.

It seems like no matter where we are, or where we go, we like to tailor the environment to what we like, what interests us, and to what makes us comfortable.

Then we go to church … and, unfortunately, do the same thing.

That’s the problem with the church: we tinker with it. We add to God’s design for it by putting in what we like, what interests us, and especially, what makes us comfortable.

We even call it “our” church, or “Pastor Smith’s church,” or the community church. But the church is none of those. It’s the church of Jesus Christ … it’s HIS church and He hasn’t invited us to tinker with it.

He doesn’t want us adding to His intention for the church, or His instruction to it. He welcomes us in the church, designs us to be a part of the church, and gives us a clear mission for the church. When we stick with these things, the church impacts the world for Jesus Christ.

When we tinker with the church, we bring in human foibles that weaken, distract, and detour the church.

Feel free to bring your designer self to the church, but once there, stick to your God-given role and remember whose house you’re in.

Scotty