SUBTLE SPIRES

What truly towers to shadow our lives is not always easy to notice. We might feel the shadow in terms of the impact it has our own lives and day, but that doesn't mean we necessarily see the source.

Man erects his spires of vanity so he can appease his pride. We spend fortunes and time to construct edifices to our own glory. Yet, God can easily destroy them in a heartbeat.

Even though we know this, it doesn't keep people from trying to create some form of spire immortality. God doesn't keep us from such labors, but they do nothing to further the cause of Christ, unless they do exist for the sole purpose of honoring him. That is rare to be sure, if it happens at all.

On a carnal level, it really doesn't matter in terms of eternity if one chooses to devote their labors to building empires or any kind of pillar of boasting. It will all crumble and return to the dust in due season. Some ruins will remain for future generations to gawk at, but the architect will not be necessarily remembered or admired in the process.

Knowing this in no way deters some from making such activity their reason for being. But while they may gain some fame or fortune in the process, will it be a source of salvation? I don't think I have to answer that question, do I?

All of this is the dynamics of humanity called being mortal. And while it will never change, neither will its legacy result in the type of achievement that can in any way rival heaven or the Lord in their glory.

What is tragic is to see when spiritual leaders apply this same desire to building their congregations. Oh, they may learn how to say all the right words and go through creating the window dressing of wanting to give glory to the Lord, but if one looks passed the surface you see ego as the foundation.

The person is in reality about numbers. He or she worships the size of their following as prove of their calling. I wonder how the person would have handled having Noah's calling where he had to preach for a hundred and twenty years to people who refused to listen? Yet, I doubt any of those who shepherd mega-houses of worship can possible claim they are more beloved of God that Noah? Just a question to ponder.

I see the sadness that it must cause the Lord when he graces a certain person with his anointing and they use it to build their own kingdoms instead of remembering that they are part of a Heavenly kingdom. I'm not saying big churches are bad, merely that it just seems at times that the Lord ends up taking a back seat in terms of worship and attention to the person who is head of that ministry.

And I do see the number of times that this desire and passion for numbers truly possesses a given pastor. To the point they seem totally consumed by such facts, unable to remember the greater importance that God cares about the one lost sheep as much as the other ninety-nine.