A thought on changing our world view…I hate cigarette butts. They represent one of the worst forms of pollution. Not only are they a pollutant while burning but then they are thrown on the ground and will take years to disintegrate. The only thing worse is when I find them scattered around the doorways of my church. I just returned from our summer family vacation and had to finally head back to the office. One thing I immediately noticed was cigarette butts all over the main entry-way into the church. My first instinct was to get mad. It always feels so disrespectful that people would pollute the church grounds. After all it is the House of God! As I began to reach down, muttering my frustration under my breath, to pick them up. Something happened. I felt The Voice that I have learned to listen through the years ask me this question. “Do you remember how hard it was for you to quit? Do you remember how much you had to lean on Me for strength when you did?” It stopped me. Something registered in my heart. I was having a prayer that I pray every day answered. This was actually a sign that God was here not a sign of disrespect. Churches have become so image conscious that we have forgotten our purpose. To be a place where people in trouble, struggling or broken run to. We tell people to come as they are until we know what they are bringing. Then we pull up the welcome mat real quick because they may just pollute the entryway. As soon as they make us feel uncomfortable by not fitting into the mold we have made for membership to the club we move on to more interesting and attractive people. Often leaving the very person who needs us the most, farther down than when they first happened in our doorway. I picked up every cigarette butt that morning. I did it differently though. I prayed over each one. Each cigarette represented someone who was attached to it at one time. Each one held the promise of a life that stood in the doorway of my church and need at least help to quit a habit that was killing them. Each one represented a child of God. I haven’t suddenly developed a love for cigarette butts. I still don’t like them. I have had my worldview changed. I’m looking at things from a different angle and I think my church just might be doing something right. People don’t feel condemned when they smoke in our doorway. They actually feel like they can stub them out and come on in. The rest is up to God…isn’t it?
Posted on: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 17:10:45 +0000
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