Thought of the Day !!

And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.
Ezra 3:11-13

The first temple had been destroyed and a new one was being built. And change was happening. The ones who remembered the glory of the old temple wept because the new one wouldn't be the same. Those who had never worshipped there shouted praises to God for the greatness of the new one.

The one constant in this world is that there's always going to be change. We can choose to live in the past and weep. Or we can choose to remember the past while building on it as we rejoice in the change of the future. For as scary as change can be, it's what brings new life and opportunities.

This is the same with our churches and with ourselves. We have to change from being unrepentant sinners if we're to become children of God. I just read a quote from a book I'm reading entitled An Unstoppable Force by Erwin Raphael McManus. McManus writes, "To cry out to God and ask him to act is an invitation for God to bring radical change in our lives." In other words if we truly want to ask for God to be a part of our lives, we better be ready for some radical stuff to happen. We better be ready for change.

And our churches have to change as well. That is, if we want to keep reaching out to the unchurched in an ever-changing world. We must NEVER change (or water down) the message, only the way we go about getting it out to those who look, act and in many ways are different from the people of just a generation or two ago. These are the ones who are like the people who shouted praises at the foundation of the new Temple. They're searching for something, but often times don't know where to find it. And the old ways of doing church just doesn't look like it to them. These are ones who need to be shone the Gospel in ways that they can not only understand, but actually get excited about. This is not anything new. The Church has been changing since its beginnings in the book of Acts.

So are we willing to allow ourselves to be changed by God's Holy Spirit? Can we also be willing to allow that same Holy Spirit to change our Church so that it will be inviting to those who need her most? Let us not weep because we have to do some things differently (both personally and corporately in worship). Instead, let us praise God for what He's done for us and what He's going to do for others through us and His Church.

In the love of Christ,
greg