Last Sunday I was still gone on vacation, but there was the dreaded “weather” that was coming in. I call it dreaded for a good reason. Whenever it gets to be close to the weekend, and a strong winter storm is moving into the area, every pastor I know starts going on snow watch. (and pastors, I apologize now because I’m going to pick on us for a minute).
That means that we start watching roads, forecasts, news, that special weather rock, etc. to see what the storm is going to do to us, and to our chance for worship on Sunday morning. That’s important, because we have to make a big decision. Do we cancel church or not. It’s at this point that the Super Pastors make their appearance. You’ll know them because they’re the ones that will be at church no matter what.
We could have 10 feet of snow on the ground with hurricane force winds, and temperatures pushing -40, but they’ll be there with a pot of coffee on and a doughnut, waiting, “just in case” someone comes in. The reasoning behind why they do this varies. Some just don’t like to cancel, they feel like if its Sunday, then someone needs to be there. Some with give a theological argument for it, and so on.
For most though, I think there’s more than a little bit of a Super Christian mindset that is going on. They’re going to show everyone just how “Christian” they are because they’re at church when even the abominable snowman decided to stay at home and have hot chocolate. If you’re worried about the safety of your church members getting out, then you don’t need to be out either. Set the example for others.
Okay pastors, relax, I’m done picking on you. Because, if we’re honest with each other, it’s not just pastors that do this kind of thing. There’s parts of our lives where we want to be the superhero. We want to show others just how good we are at being Christian, so we go to crazy lengths to prove it. That’s not what Jesus calls us to.
Remember this great passage in Matthew 6 where Jesus gets on folks for “Showy Religion.” He jumps right in on that point in vs. 1:
1“Be careful that you don’t practice your religion in front of people to draw their attention. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
The real question that we should be asking ourselves is to what point are we doing the things that we’re doing. Are we doing it out of a real desire to do the right thing, or so that we can be seen by others. Later in vs. 19-21 Jesus gets at this again. This is the passage on storing your treasures. So the simple question to ask is, where are we putting our treasures?
There’s one thing that we have to remember when we do all of that. And its the reason why we do the things that we do. Paul reminds us in Romans 3:25-28 that we can’t do anything to be even better. We aren’t saved through the good things we do, so no amount of gooder (yes I intentionally spelled it that way) things will do anymore for us. We are saved through faith.
So go out this week, and don’t try to be more than you are. You have been made good enough, just as you are. Use that to serve. Don’t be a superhero, and don’t feel guilty if you see folks around you who are being superheros. Listen for God’s call on you, and that is more than enough.
Stories from the Other Side 