SCRIPTURE: Luke 21:5-9
This reading makes me think of Shania Twain’s song, ‘That don’t impress me much!’
The disciples are impressed by the beautiful temple structures – like an impressive mega-church complex.
I think of a huge church I attended in New Orleans, and someone in the group with me said, ‘wow, wouldn’t you like to have a church like THIS?
Ah, no, ‘that don’t impress me much!’
Jesus knows that buildings come to ruin, but the kingdom of God endures forever.
He knows the future of the temple, and the future of our church buildings.
Every year approximately 7000 churches close their doors for the last time.
Think back to when those churches started, some with impressive buildings and programs.
God is not building a worldly kingdom; in fact the things of the world will come undone.
And out of the ruins, out of the ashes, out of the scars, out of the crises – God raises His Church.
The church is not a building, it is not an ‘it’, it is the people of God, a ‘who’!
And this temple has foundations that cannot be ruined or destroyed.
“As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:4-5)
When God sees people worshiping Him, ‘that impresses Him much!’
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, forgive us for spending so much on buildings – which don’t impress You – rather than on people – who do impress and bless You. Please build an impressive group of people through us this year!