Priorities in the Church

I heard about a happily married couple who had certain struggles because old Aunt Emma showed up at their door one day needing a place to stay. Emma was loud and demanding, and generally ungrateful. The couple held back their feelings because Aunt Emma was family; and besides, Emma could really lay on the guilt trip any time there seemed to be any hesitation in meeting her many needs.

After seven long years, Aunt Emma died. On the way home from the funeral the husband said, “You know dear, if I did not love you so much, I don’t think I would have put up with your Aunt Emma all these years.” The wife looked at her husband in total disbelief and said, “My Aunt Emma? I thought she was your Aunt Emma!”

I have noted that some times churches can be bamboozled by the enemy into accepting responsibilities that are really not theirs. God has created and designed the church to do three basic things: Worship God, Build up Believers and Share Christ with a lost world.

Because we are people committed to being loving and compassionate, we can sometimes be drawn toward activities and causes that are very good, but may be a distraction from the real priorities of the church. We are a people of conviction and moral standards, but we need to be cautious that we are not sidetracked into social or political activism when the lost are dying without hope. If we are not careful, even our desire for personal holiness can take us down a path of legalism, causing us to neglect the Great Commission.

Yes, we must remember to be salt and light to the world, but we must also remember why.