Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

It seems that everywhere I look I see people getting all bent out of shape over things that don't really matter in the grand scheme of things.  On the news I hear people nit-picking through a candidate's life rather than paying attention to their views on important issues.  Character is almost totally overlooked just as long as the person agrees with my biases.  If it just stayed there, on the news, it would be OK, but it permeates the church, family life, the neighborhood and more.  Since I'm intimately involved in the church, I'll address those issues here.
While great attention was given to the building and decorating of the temple in Jerusalem, we do not have a template for building local churches.  As a matter of fact, it appears that God is blessing those congregations that don't even have a place, other than a home, or vacant store-front in which to meet, while the large, stately edifices are struggling to meet payments and maintain huge budgets, most of which is spent on maintenance and up-keep.  To date I've never met a person who was saved because they were blown away by the decor of a church building.  Don't misunderstand, I appreciate nice buildings and worship centers so long as they enhance the worship or learning experience.  At the same time, I never want people to leave our church in awe of the edifice and not having a clue as to what was preached or taught.
As best I can tell, the primary concern of Jesus was that His Father's House should not become a merchandise center, but should be called "a house of prayer".  By the same token, God told Samuel that He was more concerned with what was inside man than how he looked on the outside.  If I never hear again of a person being turned away or made to feel inferior at a church because of their appearance, it will be too soon.
The Holy Spirit has the job of convicting people of sin.  My job is to "teach them to observe whatever (God) has commanded me."  When I focus on that, I don't really have time to sweat the small stuff.

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