A short while ago I went to a restaurant with my family. While it was not a terrible experience, it certainly was nothing to write home about. It took a while for us to be seated, even though there were several open tables. The service was slow. My glass of water was never refilled. The food was decent...at best. Now, I didn’t complain or throw a fit. But as we walked out, I said in my head, “That is the last time this restaurant gets my business.” After all, I was the customer and my expectations were not met.
It may be reasonable to have a customer mentality in restaurants and department stores, but what happens when we bring a customer mentality to Jesus and to His church? Many of us do. We expect Jesus to give us safe and meaningful lives. When He doesn’t live up to our expectations, we get frustrated with Him. And when the church doesn’t fulfill our expectations (great sermons, catchy music, meaningful programs), we feel free to take our business elsewhere. While some of this is inevitable, we must ask ourselves if we have become customers (consumers) of Jesus and His church. And if so, have we begun to believe that the customer is always right?
On Sunday we will be invited to stop being customers and we will be challenged to embrace the fact that when God saved us, He activated us to live for something (and Someone) much greater than ourselves.
Dan
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