470. Easy or Excellent

Last Sunday, we had to gather online only as the school we rent had an annual event for that weekend. We were notified only a few weeks beforehand, so I quickly searched for potential places to rent, but either the location was too far, or the rate didn't make financial sense. So we settled on an online service, which was actually our last resort.

So I had an option. Either use Zoom (which we did last time) or do a livestream. The easy way was to use Zoom. I already have all the settings prepared for the "thought of the week" video recording, which I use every week. Camera and lighting are already set up, and I just have to turn on the computer. But since Zoom cannot reliably stream live music, after talking with Jen, we decided to do a YouTube livestream instead, just like we did in the pandemic. And since I wasn't preaching that Sunday, I felt I had enough time to just work on the livestream. And we decided to set it up in our living room, and also asked the special praise team and the prayer person to attend in person. But the work was much more than expected.

We had to move the sofas, bring all the sound gear up from the basement, and set up the livestream gear. Thankfully, my house church members helped a lot with the setup. But trying to refresh my memory and learning about livestreaming all over again took longer than expected. My mind was on it all week, and at one point I found myself asking, "Why am I doing it the hard way?" "Did I make a mistake when I could've easily chosen an easy path?" But that's when I remembered King David's confession.

King David made a mistake by performing a census when God didn't instruct it, which caused plague to spread in Israel. Prophet Gad asked him to set up an altar to God at the field of a guy named Arauna and offer a sacrifice there to stop it. When David arrived, Arauna offered to provide everything for the sacrifice. But David refused the offer and said, "I will not offer to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." (2 Sam 24:24). He paid for the field and oxen required for the sacrifice, and God was receptive to his sacrifice, and the plague stopped.

We can sometimes choose the easy path. But there are certain things, at certain times, that we must be willing to pay the price. Choosing what is easy is not always rewarding. But choosing excellence always feels rewarding. And excellence demands cost.

As all who joined online already know, there was an issue with sound, and things didn't go that smoothly as I expected. But my heart was still joyful afterward because we chose the difficult but rewarding path. And I believe God was pleased with what we offered to him. And I found it amusing that the sermon was also about excellence. Regardless of our experience, what is important in our worship is that God is honoured, and I believe he was.