Devotion 5.20.15

Inspired from the Men's Retreat - Things that interfere with our relationship with Christ - Carpet

The Astrodome.  Once the marvel of the Western Hemisphere, and now reduced to an organized pile of junk.  Yet so sacred is the Dome that no elected politician in Houston or Harris County has the gumption to actually lead.  So many proposals have been put forward to make it a shopping mall, or perhaps a 5-Star hotel, or maybe an indoor amusement park/shopping mall/hotel to rival the Mall of America in Minnesota.  Here is a novel idea - tear down that 50-year old stadium that just sits and rusts.

Yet it is, in a word, sacred.  We could call it a "sacred cow," but that is like comparing cattle to something colossal.  It is a "sacred Dome."  It may be there for another 25 years or so.

The going joke is, "How many Lutherans does it take to change a lightbulb?  Answer:  None, Grandma donated it."  Oh, we have our sacred items, and these sacred items are summed up in one word for this devotional - carpet.  Nothing can come between us and our savior better than our collective facility stuff from the foundation to the steeple and all points in between, including the things that occupy it.

It is worth noting that in Exodus (25 and 26), God gives careful instructions to Moses for two specific items - the Ark and the Tabernacle which will be His dwelling place with Israel with the Ark.  A few hundred years later, Solomon builds a temple for God.  God says to Solomon, "Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father." (1 Kings 6:11 - 12)  John tells us, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."  (John 1:1)  Really, all that matters in a church facility is that God's Word dwells in it.  The tabernacle, the temple, and the Ark are all gone, but God's Word is still with us.  Our "carpet" will one day be gone as well, but God's Word will be with us. 

It is worth noting that Christ foretells the destruction of the temple (Luke 21), and in his foreshadowing, he doesn't tell the crowd, "So cling to it with all your might."  The temple was destroyed.  Christ became that temple for us.  In the end, God's Word dwelling among us is all that matters.

Pray that we always keep focus on God's Word and that we remain steadfast to "all that really matters" when issues of importance, like the carpet, come before us.

Hope Men's Ministry