Sometimes we hold on to old habits, rituals and traditions because we assume they are relevant. A woman insisted that the secret to cooking a good pot roast was to cook it in two sections in two separate pots. This method was passed on to each generation in the family as essential for attaining an excellent roast. However if grandmother were alive she might confess to her progeny that the reason she used two pots instead of one was because she did not have a pot big enough for the size roast required to feed her large family and that it did not affect the taste whatsoever! We can hold on to dubious traditions with similar tenacity.

Some congregations refuse to sing contemporary songs of worship and hold to the old hymns as if they were sacrosanct. Little do they know that many of the hymns they regard as sacred were originally borrowed popular drinking songs set with new Christian lyrics!

Worship Services and Christian education programs on Sunday mornings, evangelistic services Sunday evening and Wednesday night prayer meetings are subscribed to today almost as if they were proofs of evangelical orthodoxy and tests of church vitality. Church history and a reading of the book of Acts will bear out how robust evangelism, dynamic corporate worship experiences and true edification took place without any church buildings, printed leaflets and in spite of the fact that most people had to work on Sundays!

It is not my intention to discredit any of these means of edification, worship or evangelism. We need to differentiate the negotiable and temporary forms from the non-negotiable and enduring essentials. Our generation is crying out for relevance. The gospel is relevant but many of our trusted means and methods are not.

We can hold on to religious trappings even when they are no longer relevant to God's eternal purposes. We can get attached to the various instruments that God uses, such as ministers, methods, ministries, liturgies, organizations and even spiritual phenomena such as revival and blessings, to the degree that we cling to them more earnestly than we do the Master. Our own cherished convictions, experiences and practices can become more dear to us than Christ Himself if we are not careful. We can worship what God has done and is doing, more than Who He is. God cursed and saw to the destruction of the brazen serpent that He used to bring healing to Moses' generation in the wilderness because it eventually became an object of worship (2Kings 18:4). By focusing too much on God's temporary measures we can, to our downfall, lose sight of His eternal purpose.

When architects envision a cathedral, they do not imagine it forever surrounded with the grid work of metal, wooden planks, pulleys and ladders. Scaffolding serves only a temporary purpose in the process of construction. The scaffolding is set up only to facilitate the placing of stones according to the architect's original intention.

God has ordained a variety of means to bring about the edification of His church. When He has His building completed, the scaffolding will be put away. When that which is perfect is come, that which is imperfect will disappear (1Corinthians 13:8-13). One day prophecies will be done with, tongues will cease and knowledge will pass away. There will be no more need of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, new Bible translations, study outlines, revival meetings, Sunday School classes, Christian conferences and conventions. The apostle John in Revelation 21 and 22 informs us that in the city of God there is no need for a temple, or sun or moon to shine, for the Lord Himself is the temple and light of it!

In the light of what is eternally relevant,