Ed, my neighbour next door, never misses what is happening at our house. Yesterday, we had a couple of men hired to move some furniture out of the house and around in the house. Actually, Ed was really excited seeing some furnishings leaving our house. To him, it looked like we might be moving. I could see a look of disappointment when he learned it was just a major reshuffle and downsizing of furniture.
I told Ed, "My wife acts as if we have a new house again with all the changes. I'm not so happy, because she is in a 'don't leave that there' mood. I have tried to blame the cats for leaving stuff around, but she doesn't buy it. Even worse, now all the exercise equipment is in the basement ready to be used and I walk by it in guilt to get to my office."
"Quit whining," was Ed's response. Then, of course, he wanted to know how much it cost to hire two guys for a small job like that. "Not much," I said. "The real cost is in the truth that once a wife gets into the mood for re-arranging furniture in one room, it won't end. Now there is the need to paint one living room wall. How is it that I think things are fine and my wife wants to recreate the whole house into another dimension?" I questioned.
"It is your own fault - you should have learned way before now how to put off things a wife wants done. You have to behave like you will get around to it real soon. A wife has to see that talking to a husband is like talking to the wall. Every five years you actually do what they want and they are so shocked that it lasts for another five years," Ed explained.
When it is our homes, we want them to be comfy. We may not welcome change that feels like it is too much or too often. It is the same when it comes to our church homes. In our churches, usually pews and other furniture don't get moved around, but the days are numbered of the leader or Pastor that changes the comfortable way of worship too much or too often. Many resentfully question the need to change the way they have always done it.
After Jesus entered Jerusalem in triumph, "he entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, 'Is it not written: My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations? But you have made it a den of robbers.'"
The Bible goes on to say the crowds were amazed at Jesus's actions and teaching. The chief priests and the teachers of the law began looking for a way to kill Jesus, for they feared him. Change at the temple in Jesus's day and change in our church homes usually means amazement and fear. Thus, we tend to get rid of the one causing change rather than accept the change. We don't take kindly to those who overturn the way we like to have and do things, even when it is God bringing the changes.
