All the officials and all the people brought their contributions
gladly, dropping them into the chest until it was full. Whenever
the chest was brought in by the Levites to the king’s officials and they saw
that there was a large amount of money, the royal secretary and the officer of
the chief priest would come and empty the chest and carry it back to its place.
They did this regularly and collected a great amount of money. The king
and Jehoiada gave it to those who carried out the work required for the temple
of the Lord. They
hired masons and carpenters to restore the Lord’s temple, and also workers
in iron and bronze to repair the temple. 2 Chronicles 24:10-12
A
similar question to ask is why do we make repairs to our homes? Dilapidation says something isn’t important
or nobody cares. Dirty doors and broken
shingles on the outside communicates something is falling apart on the inside.
The
temple in the Old Testament did not get repaired over time and began to look
bad. This had an effect on the people
who began to see the temple as outdated, old, unnecessary, unimportant. As repairs were done, so did their enthusiasm
for worship and God.
If
the work is done diligently, progress will happen. People saw the temple differently, in a new
and fresh light. Today we need to get
the least expensive bid done by the most experienced and passionate bidder to
fix our churches. We must be wise with
people’s money but not apologize for trying to upgrade God’s house. People notice and it makes a difference.