A new perspective on Church

Call me crazy, but, I'd love to see a world where the Church was the go-to place for practical wisdom and solutions for things like:

How to fix cars

How to bake pies

How to host dinner parties

How to sew on buttons

How to invest into dividend stocks

How to do taxes

How to play saxophone

How to build houses

How to earn income

How to raise kids

etc.

I 100% believe that the primary and most important calling of the Church is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ that saves sinners. Without a doubt. In fact, if we got the other stuff and missed this, we have 100% failed. I'd rather we got the Gospel right and everything else wrong, if it came at the cost of the Gospel.

However....

If we have the Holy Spirit, Who leads and guides us into ALL truth (John 16:13,) and we have the Mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16,) and we have been given everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3,) doesn't it make sense that, collectively, we should have more answers than we do?

I guess, in my mind, it'd be cool for people to naturally look to the Church for answers when they have problems, not just because of the reputation that we should have for doing quality work with a spirit of excellence, but also because of the fact that we were the repository of both knowledge and wisdom.

When I look at some of the Church, I see two disturbing things:

1. People doubling down on "spiritual" matters and activity, but, not being able to manage the practical matters of life.

(Going to church, teaching Sunday School, tithing, quoting Scripture and singing Christian songs is great and all, but, if we can't be effective and efficient with managing our lives, doesn't it show a disconnect?

Granted, we all have, are, and/or will go through down times, but, sometimes, we find ourselves in situations that were simply the result of us not exercising practical wisdom and/or good common sense, and then we hear "The Devil Got in my Checkbook." (Oh really? Whose name did he sign?))

2. People who look at the news WAY too much.

I'm not sure the World needs us to watch Fox News (or CNN, for my more liberal friends.)

You know what I think?

God has made us, equipped us, and called us, to be, bank managers, pie bakers, car mechanics, business owners, welders, accountants, surgeons, pianists, teachers, actors, authors, delivery drivers, and the list goes on and on, but, many of us have gotten too busy looking at what "they" are doing that we're missing out on what "we" should be doing.

I may disagree with what the schools in Oregon are doing, what the Mayor of New York is doing, and what the Hollywood Crowd is doing, but, how does putting my attention on that serve anyone well? Sure, I guess we "need" to be informed (whatever that means,) but I can get way too involved with that, way too quickly.

This may make some of my more politically-minded friends angry, but, each time that I see/hear fellow Christians spend irreplaceable moments of time bemoaning what the world is doing, I find myself wanting to hit them with a cattle prod. There is a case for us needing to know the trends of society; however, focusing on what "they" are doing can turn idolatrous pretty quickly.

Instead of being so emotionally invested in what others are doing, what if we focused on Who our God is and what He has called us to do?

In my mind, that means that we get practically involved with being, or providing, the answers that people around us need to know.

It surprises many people that there are people all around the world that make money, online, from teaching others what they, themselves, have learned. Today, I just read about a man in Kentucky who makes a full time living on the internet with a course about how to raise chickens.

Making money from what we know is great, but, you know what's an even more valuable asset that we can get when we help others with what we know?

Sure, we can possibly earn their dollars, but, even better.....we can earn their attention.

When you have someone's attention, you can lead them, you can guide them, you can develop them, and you can witness to them.

So....maybe...just maybe....instead of trying to get extra spiritual and pray that God would launch some type of new work, maybe we should get busy doing the work He has already called us to do.