“No one can serve
two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be
devoted to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and money. THEREFORE, I tell you, do not be anxious
about your life” (Matthew 6:24, 25).
“I have no silver
or gold, but what I do have I give to you.
In the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6).
Many religious
systems today are serving money rather than God. Ministries have grown dependent on the bottom
line, giving up programs that help people to maintain the business of keeping
their institution going. Activities that
used to be volunteer work have become work for pay, and when the money is gone,
so is the work. Once that pattern starts
the downward spiral begins. Now
religious institutions are worried about rights that they claim God gave them,
and then were followed through by our founding fathers and government. Now money is being poured into law suits,
money that could have been used for better purposes. The disciples called ‘foul’ on the woman with
the alabaster jar for wasting money. I
call ‘foul’ on the law firms and lawyers in these law suits. Somehow, I believe Jesus would as well.
When I look at the
roots of the Christian Church I find very little close to what it is, to what
it was. That is true of most of the
religious institutions I have seen and worked with these days, including The
Religious Society of Friends. “You
cannot serve God and money.” The quest of
many of these groups is to return to the origins of the early church. The liturgy is changed, the missals are
changed, the concept of community is changed; the outside of the bowl is being
cleaned up to look like the early Christians.
But, Peter and John
had no money, no church building or church affaire to manage. What they had was the power of Jesus Christ
to be able to heal a lame beggar they happen to walk past on their way to
temple. They were true to the teachings
of Jesus, not the ways of the world that so quickly serves money rather than
God. They loved God, the fountain of
living water, and did not build cisterns, broken cisterns that held no
water. That is what religious
institutions need to do as they return to their roots…draw near to God and stop
trying to repair their broken cisterns.
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