Image is important to churches. We want to be well thought of in the community and that can be a good thing. However, there is a far more important factor that can be neglected if we focus on outward appearance. Our inner spiritual lives suffer when doing church things becomes too burdensome and time-consuming.
Usually it is the wonderfully dedicated who are most prone to burn out, because they spend the most time in helping do the busy work that churches require. That can be building maintenance, music practice, flower arranging, and involvement in community charities with no end in sight. God's business can easily become big business with its incessant demands on time, talent and treasure.
The inside, family and spiritual lives suffer under overly demanding church responsibilities. This was also a problem for the Pharisees in Matthew 23:25-26. First clean the inside of the cup, so that its outside may be clean as well. That's what Jesus said.
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