The American Church Culture - 2

A week later, I come back and read my last post, and cringe at the judgementalism and negativity that just leaps off of the page - particularly near the end. I gave a little bit of consideration to deleting it, but will not try to hide and dismiss my own shortcomings like that. I am going to continue to pour myself out here, warts and all, and since I can't hide it from God, there's ultimately no point in hiding it from anybody else. So long as it is here where I can see it and grow from it, then it has value, no matter how poorly executed the post may be.

One thing that frustrates me in this is that I don't really have a more loving way of saying what I said. It really does sadden me that we have so many lavish, ostentatious shrines all over the country. Some of these buildings are worth more than many of the poorest communities of the world will know in a lifetime.

To me, it is all coming down to how we perform as stewards of God's resources during our time here on earth. We are little more than temporary visitors here. During that time, God allows us the opportunity to manage a portion of his resources. Some are given much to manage, and others are given less. These resources are not for our benefit, except in that they allow us to bring greater glory and recognition to God. There is not a thing that I have, not wealth, not property, not security, not friends, not even my own life, that I deserve, or have somehow earned. All of these things belong to God, and are here for one purpose - to glorify Him.

My concern is this - how is it glorifying to Him if I build a bigger church or bigger home, while a child in India must sleep in a garbage dump? How is my church picnic glorifying Him when thousands of children die daily from malnutrition or dehydration? How is He glorified if I hide away in my heated, comfortable, spacious, luxurious house of "worship", while so many of His children are cramped, oppressed, beaten down, hungry, thirsty, ill, unloved, unwanted, and ignored?

We have been unworthily lavished with so much more than we could ever need or deserve. How can we sit back and not share that blessing with the rest of God's beloved children?