Making the Temporary Permanent

Our church needs to replace a building. The intention was to replace it many years ago with a better structure. It still exists forty years later. It is hard to let go of that which you have in order to do what you need.

Anyone who doesn't believe in eternal life should look at a program created in a Baptist church. The program is still going many years after it is dead. It may have no relevance, effectiveness or purpose but it will be carried on. It has become a permanent structure.

It was said that one Baptist church was initially able to stop having their Sunday evening services without any protest. Three months later the deacons found out and it was quickly brought back!

It is human nature to get comfort out of things. We like the grocery store we have always shopped in. We feel comforted that the items we buy are of the same brand, on the same aisle and are checked out by the same person. We get upset when a chain buys the Mom and Pop store. We feel that the corporations are impersonal. It doesn't matter that the corporations are able to buy in such volume that our overall grocery bill shrinks. It doesn't matter that Mom and Pop are now able to retire. We want our places, people and things to remain permanent.

Is this why it is so hard to grow old? We fully remember what it is like to be young. We remember doing things that we can't do today. Somehow, our hearts tell us we still can. Our minds tell us something different.

So, we hold onto everything we can. Some will refuse to use a computer because this represents a change they do not want to accept. Some will keep broken items in their houses without throwing them out. Some remember the "good ole days" without remembering the "good ole problems" they had.

Christians should know that this world is not our home. We should know that we should not make it permanent. We should know that God is a God of change for He seeks to change us daily. We should know that He will change our location someday to where He is.

This life is not permanent. In fact, even most of the things in this life are not permanent. We shouldn't try to make them such.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52 (ESV)  
⁵¹ Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, ⁵²  in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.