My middle daughter was only four when we drove to an overlook at the Grand Canyon and stepped out of the car to see the wonders of that place.

She wanted to know what it was, so we told her, “It is a big hole in the ground in America with a lot of big, pretty rocks.”

We stopped long enough in the gravel parking lot to point to the colorful walls of the canyon in the distance and say excitedly, “Look at the rocks, baby!” Then we began to walk to the overlook site. She kept saying, “Look at the rocks!” So we assumed she was following us in wide-eyed wonder. When we looked back, we noticed that she wasn’t looking at the Grand Canyon at all. She had picked up a handful of gravel from the parking lot. She carefully cradled those rocks and carried them with great reverence as she said, “Look-American rocks!”

That is a picture of the church. The Holy Spirit is pointing to the coming of the Father in all His glory, and we are still scrabbling in the parking lot, digging for religious paving stones to say, “Look . . .” Religion causes us to gather together for all the wrong reasons.

We gather to throw stones at people who are different or people who don’t measure up to our own individual brand of religious righteousness (man’s works). In some cases, we even pick up some rocks to pelt people who dare to be “more spiritual” than we are. Sinners hear countless stories on the news and in the local barber and beauty shops about Christian people who gather to debate the commands of God and come to verbal blows over meaningless jots and tittles while shoving aside the most important things.

We also gather together to proudly display our accomplishments and works to God, not realizing that we are asking Him to bless and honor our personal pile of filthy rags. We lift up our tithes and offerings of gold to Him as if He needed them. Like my little daughter cradling those worth­less rocks in the parking lot of the Grand Canyon, we carefully cradle our gold and reluctantly place it at His feet as if it were of inestimable value. Yet we are merely offering God “paving rocks” from His golden streets instead of placing our focus on His face-the true source of all wonder and wealth in the kingdom.

Excerpt from The God Catchers, p. 47,48 Author, Tommy Tenney GodChasers.network PO Box 3355 Pineville, LA 71360 318-442-4273 www.GodChasers.net