Psalm 119:161 - the challenges of life

161
Powerful people harass me without cause,
but my heart trembles only at your word.

I am already starting to experience a little conflict at Uni for being a Christian, but only in the sense of great opportunity. Yesterday my tutor asked a group of us why churches were built in mass-finery with expensive artefacts by noblemen who wanted to look good and wasn't this a bit hypocritical of the church? My first instinction of course, was to ask him to remove the plank out of his own eye, as he sat as representative of one of the most manipulative money-grabbing markets in the world.... Design and advertising. I also wondered why he should pick on Christianity again and whether he would dare ask my friends in the group who are members of other religions anything about their religions.

However, I quickly realsed that this was an opportunity to talk about Jesus, so I tried to explain that building were built in that was as an act of worship to God and an example of people giving their very best to honour Him. I also explained that the church is the people, not the building etc. I left it at this in order not to 'preach' at everyone and not confuse them and he went on to explain that his Christianity is what he does for people and that his religion is probably graphic design. Whilst he is far from the truth, he is actually surprisingly close as well. Aside from the fact that he is missing out on the gargantuan "relationship with Jesus" point of Christianity, which renders the rest worthless if not done, he seems to have grasped a bit of the lifestyle! Being a Christian is not about who the holiest person is, but about showing the love of God to other people, particularly in an unseen way. (Of course, a huge part of it is spending time loving God one-to-one also in an unseen way!) When he said that his religion was graphic design it made me smile, thinking of how we do not like to say that we are 'religious' because religion causes people to look but not truly see. I couldn't care less if he thought that he was a religious graphic designer so long as he knows the truth about Jesus and doesn't muddle the two! I don't personally have a problem with admitting that I am 'religious' to non-Christians as if I launch into some clever spiel about how I am Christian but not religious, I don't feel that I am hitting the point that matters, to encourage a relationship with God. People end up confused and I would prefer that they see by my lifestyle that I am not what they would consider a stereotype of 'religious' and that the name will again be associated with good, since it seems to be what the public understand (so they think...).

This situation reminded me of the people in the story of when Mary pours expensive 'nard' over Jesus's feet. "You could have given that money to the poor!" etc was probably amongst the indignant cries heard at that moment. But how does Jesus react? He says that she has done a beautiful thing. You might sit and think that this is a little self-indulgent of Jesus, to sit and accept this nard for his feet, when he is supposed to care about the poor, but as he says, "the poor will always be with us, but you will not always have me." She was also preparing him for his burial,showing an act of worship to God. If we lived properly, then there would always be enough for the poor, so I wonder how these rich people could stand and say that, just as I wondered how a graphics/advertising representative could tell us off for giving God a nice building.

This really spoke to me about Trinity's current situation, as we are trying to build a new church... God asks us in the Bible, how we can be working to beautify our own homes when His house (the temple in this case) is in ruins. Trinity Church is not a tumbled-down wreck, but it is far from structurally perfect, with the roof falling down, the ceiling being held together by God's gift of pigeon poo, etc. We may face opposition, but let's give God the honour He deserves. As it says in the Bible verse at the top:

161
Powerful people harass me without cause,
but my heart trembles only at your word.

Don't tremble when people oppose you, use the Word of God, which is far stronger.