These thoughts from Rob Bell are running laps in my mind today.
Why do we do the things we do? Why do we go to church or give money away? Because we’re supposed to or because we think God needs it? Do we honestly put on our best clothes for an hour once a week, stand and sit at all the right times, and sing all the appropriate songs for God’s sake, or because it’ll make us look better to the world around us? We’re tired of all the empty rituals and routines. And so is God. God hates it when we call ourselves Christians but ignore all the things he really cares about. He hates it when we go through hollow religious routines out of some feeling of duty or obligation. God doesn’t want the meaningless rituals. God wants our hearts. God hates is, he can’t stand it, when we put on a religious show and then we ignore the poor and the broken and the marginalized and the oppressed. Is church a building? Like an hour once a week? Church is people. People whose hearts are beating more and more like God’s.
