I know that I've already talked about motivation in a previous post (Why We Do What We Do - June 11, 2011), but please go on and read this post because I've a different point to make today.
'17Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a temple for the name of the LORD GOD of Israel. 18But the LORD said to my father David, "Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for MY name, you did well that it was in your heart."' (I Kings 8:17-18 NKJV)
What we have here is Solomon, the second son of King David and Bathsheba, with what is basically a sermon dedicating the new temple to GOD. This was the temple that his father, King David, had desired to build years earlier, but had been told by GOD through the priest Nathan that this was something not meant for him to do. The point here is that GOD was blessed by the fact that David had this desire, or need, in his heart to build a temple to house the ark of GOD. GOD didn't need to see the temple built by David to be blessed by it. It wasn't the temple itself, a stone and wood structure, that would be a blessing, or pleasing, to the LORD. Now here is our lesson for Christians in today's world. GOD has made it clear that temporal things, like stone and wood structures, and nice cars and trucks, how often we're in church or how much money we put in the offering, these things do not bless GOD. While places of worship should be respected places, I can't find Scripturally that the more elegant or prestigious a building we worship HIM in, the more HE'll be blessed. Neither can I find that the more chic or fashionable our clothes are the more HE'll be pleased. Yes, we should show HIM reverence and awe by wanting to look respectful in a respectful-looking place of worship, if that is our motivation. I read some time ago that one of the better known 'TV Preachers' in what we're calling 'Megachurches' now was given a $10,000 a month clothing allowance. (This was in a taped interview, so I'm going to assume that if the dollar amount was inaccurate it would've been corrected before the piece was aired). I'll tell you folks something, I don't know that I could except that kind of money from our ministry for any kind of allowance. My first thought was something along the lines of how much we could do for how many people with ten grand a month. This brings us back to motivation. Just who is this TV Preacher trying to look good for? It can't be for GOD, HE only sees our 'innermost' selves. Is it for the members of the church he pastors at? Now we need to look at their motivation for even being in church if something as useless [to GOD] as how their pastor dresses is that important to them, and it must be or the congregants would put a stop to that kind of money being spent on clothes. In my first post on the issue of motivation, I made the point that what we desire to do for GOD brings HIM just as much blessings as what we actually accomplish. Aren't we really trying to look good for ourselves? Is this how we measure our success? But whose standards are we measuring our success by? This is where we can get into trouble real easy, even if we are careful. Think about it for a minute, what 's the first thing people will respond with when they're invited to church, especially the women? It'll be something like, "Well, I'll have to see if I have anything to wear." The connotation is that church is the only place they wear clothes, they're running around naked the rest of the time. Should we go to church in cut-off jeans and flip flops? I'll not answer that one, except to say take it to the LORD in prayer, then dress however you're comfortable. Just make sure that you're being led by HIM while you're laying out you clothes for Sunday morning. Don't worry about what anyone will say, what do they know anyway?
Brothers and Sisters [before the LORD], make sure that your reasons for doing whatever you do are the right reasons, and yes, this does extend to every single part of your lives. No, I'm not taking this 'motivation' thing too far, the only way that could be true would be if you felt that JESUS took HIS 'dying on the cross' thing too far. Well, did HE?
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