DEVOTIONAL |
Devotion for the week of
September 11, 2011
THE EXCITEMENT
OF RESTORATION
They
did not require an accounting from those to whom they gave the money to pay
the workers,
because they acted with complete honesty.
2 Kings 12:15
Imagine a world in which everyone is so honest no accounting of funds would ever be needed. In the euphoric days when the temple was being refurbished under Joash, seemingly everyone was on a rare spiritual high. People were so excited about contributing to the project that the money chest repeatedly had to be emptied! And did you notice what the money was being spent on—or not spent on? Initially it was not for items of silver and gold to be used in the temple, but for repairing the temple itself. Where there is a genuine revival of faith, aesthetics don’t matter. What got people excited was not stained glass and steeples but recapturing an ancient vision of worship.
Maybe we can never reproduce those euphoric days immediately following Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, or relive the incomparable day of Pentecost when 3000 were saved, or personally experience the thrilling aftermath when the Spirt-filled disciples joyfully fellowshipped with each other daily. But just imagine being one of those very first Christians, so on fire for the Lord that you would actually sell your possessions in order to share with fellow believers! The irony is that, instead of refurbishing some magnificent edifice, they left all the pomp and circumstance behind and celebrated the Lord around simple tables in humble homes. The excitement was not in external trappings, but in the vision of having intimate fellowship with God and each other. What could be more exciting? What could move us to greater generosity? What could make us so openly and obviously honest about our faith that no one would need an account!
The reviving question is: What restored vision of faith today might prompt me to become euphorically spiritual?
NOW GO AND TAKE ON THE WEEK AND SHALOM!