Need

I am typing this on my phone. I'm currently in my room on the 19th floor of a nice hotel. I brought my computer but I decided not to pay the required cost for internet access in my room. This trip is going to cost enough without that extra charge, anyway.

As we travel there's something I've noticed about hotels. Yes, there's a lot to be said for the nicer ones. They're more aesthetically pleasing. They have more amenities. They just seem, for lack of a better way to describe this, shinier. They're more polished. But when it comes right down to it a hotel is a hotel. Your room has a TV, a bed or two, a chair, a coffee pot (praise God) and a bathroom. They're all pretty much the same.

The biggest difference in hotels that I can tell is that the big, nice, expensive ones don't seem to need your business. That's not to say that they don't need business. It's just that they don't specifically need yours. This is a big hotel. This is a nice hotel. Lots of people come stay here. You, person in the room on the 19th floor, are lucky to be here. If you didn't get that reservation someone else would have.

The best hotel experience I've ever had was, no joke, at a Microtel somewhere seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It was pretty much empty. When we checked in we were given free coffee, cookies, and coupons for free miniature golf while we were still in the lobby. There was free wifi in the room and a free hot breakfast in the morning. It wasn't the biggest hotel. It wasn't the nicest hotel. But we were important to it. It needed our business and every part of our stay we were reminded of that.

So, why am I writing this, other than because I'm bugged it would cost as much for internet access in my current, "nice" hotel room just for today as it does for an entire month at home? This experience has me thinking about the church. Big surprise, I know. It's not to say that all churches are the same but church is, to a certain extent, church. Churches have ministries that they do and they need people to serve in order for those ministries to happen. Some of our churches are bigger, shinier, "nicer", and have an awful lot more people who come to them. Others don't. But all need people to serve in the ministries that they do.

How we, the church, communicate the need for service is important. We never want to take service for granted. We need to communicate how grateful we are to those who help do the work of ministry while constantly encouraging others to step up as well. There is much work to be done. And we need the body of believers to do it.