Pastor's Corner
March, 2003
This week during our “Family Time,” we read an article, titled “His Workmanship”, from The Finishing Touch by Charles Swindoll. I thought it was insightful and would like to share it with you. In respect to the copyright law and the length of the article, I’m unable to reprint the entire article for you. I’ll just quote to a few comments he made.
“We sometimes clothe the infinite riches of Christ in unattractive rags! As a result, the treasure of Truth is tainted and cheapened by the way it is presented to the public.” He mentioned that given any town, there would be unattractive church structures surrounded with pathetic landscaping. Inside those buildings were the cheapest quality of furnitures, carpets, musical instruments, and sound systems possible. To put it bluntly, he wrote, “I’ll tell you, it takes all the forces of heaven and the prevailing prayers of the saints just to get a visitor into a place like that, much less get him or her saved or spiritually turned on. That’s why Satan dances with glee when churches cut every financial corner and emphasize only their so-called ‘stand for truth’.” How true! I remembered the words of God spoken through the prophet Haggai, “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin? . . . Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house” (Haggai 1). I see that God has no problem in us fixing up our own homes, but at the same time, we shouldn’t give God’s house the “left-over.” If we can help it, nobody wants to live in a dirty and ugly home, but then, why would we think that God doesn’t mind such treatment?
He also wrote, “Several years ago a man told me that his first contact with a Christian was so offensive he ‘never wanted to hear about Jesus again.’ He said the person who witnessed to him had bad breath and body odor, never once smiled, was dressed in clothing completely out of date, and angrily close his remarks, with, ‘Don’t blame Jesus if you go to hell’.” Yes, there are obnoxious Christians that turn people off. We may even have come across a few of our own. Sometimes, I feel that it would be better to lock those people up so that they can’t further damage the image of God. The author concluded, “Let’s not change our message. But it will be worth it to change our appearance from the ugly duckling to the swan. We are His workmanship, and all we do should reflect that beauty and grace.” And the Finishing Touch was, “Sometimes people can’t see past us to hear our message. We never have a second chance to leave a first impression.”
Before I sign off, I ask you to challenge yourselves to better present our Lord Jesus Christ. We sometimes challenge others too much and fail to see our own short-comings. Every great movement starts from the “self.”
Pastor Larry
