Double Standards

When our car breaks down, who is it we go to so that it may get fixed? Normally, a mechanic would be our first choice. We go to someone who has the knowledge and went to school for fixing cars. What we don’t realize is that they do all this work to charge people $50-$90 a hour to do the work. We go to an expert to get some work done.

In a church, who is it that we seek out when our lives break down? Who is it that we seek when we have questions about our relationship with God? Normally, a pastor or preacher would be our first choice. We go to someone who has the knowledge and went to school for fixing lives and knowing God. What we don’t realize is that they go through all this schooling, and read all these books, just to be able to answer your questions. On average, a pastor of your local church might make $8 an hour.

This article is to cover two major issues. 1. Why do we pay someone more money to fix cars, than we do for those who help fix our lives? 2. Why do we always go to experts to fix things when we can do the research ourselves?

The pay gap in job roles here is massive. We see anywhere between $45 – $85 in difference between a pastor and a mechanic. We seek after a man or woman to fix our vehicle, and are more willing to pay them a lot of money, but when it comes to tithing and offering we step aside and complain about the amount that we have to put in. We take the $2 out of our pockets and place them in the offering plate, but drop hundreds of dollars into a vehicle. Maybe we need to reverse this mentality, and be more willing to put money into a ministry that can change lives, rather than put money into changing tires.

The concept of experts is a baffling thing. We look at men and women who took their time to study and research certain ideas, and then go to them directly for the answers. We look for cheat codes, short cuts, and easier roads to get to the end goal. Yet, we can have access to the same materials as the ‘experts’. It just takes time to get there.

I know this post was a bit sporadic, and it covered over two topics that can ultimately contradict each other; however, I hope that both of these happen. I hope that we as children of God take time to do the research, I hope we take the time to encounter God and find the answers we are searching for. Until that day comes, I hope that we would understand that maybe we need to have the same wiliness to fund ministries as we do businesses. I hope that we have the same mentality of the local business being the backbone of the economy as the church is the backbone of the community. Maybe this shift in mentality could change our lives for the better.