Worthless Gold

Gold was everywhere! Splendor and beauty (and a bit of creepiness, too) dazzled the eyes. Every corner seemed to vie for your attention.

Yet all I saw was complete emptiness.

All completely worthless.

For our day off on Thursday, our group traveled to the city of Salvador to sightsee in one of the oldest cities in Brazil. Walking the streets of historic Salvador was in a way, stepping into a different time. Many of the building and streets could have been located in Spain and besides the clothing of the people around you, one felt like they were on a movie set. And the people milling about certainly were interesting to watch (from a human statue getting his paint on to a cross-dressing man.) Yet these interesting people were not what struck me that day.

Instead, it was a church.

The São Francisco Church was unlike anything I had seen before. Nearly every inch of this cathedral was overlaid with gold. From every corner was statues of angels and men staring down at you and watching your every move. The afternoon sun streamed through the windows as our group marveled at such an interesting place.

As I took pictures something kept ringing in my mind. Year after year people had come to this place, magnificent yet cold and dark, trying to win the favor of God. The reason for all the gold was again to earn the good will of their God. Did those who worshiped there feel unimportant and completely out of place in this cathedral, causing them to believe that they were barely on the mind of God and that He could never accept them? How many people decided to give up their faith because they realized that this kind of God isn’t worth serving or believing in? How many people went to their graves, giving all their money to the church and still wondering if they had earned the grace of God?

Yet all the gold in the world could never win His favor. No place of worship we build can ever earn us an honored place in heaven. You see, God is not like the cathedral we found in Salvador. You don’t have to whisper when you approach His throne. Every burden on your heart can be poured out to Him even if it includes tears and questioning. While God is magnificent, He revealed Himself to us as a poor, humble man. God doesn’t wait for us to come to Him through our own good works because He has already come down to us. Even though He has more majesty and glory than any earthly mind can imagine, He tells us that we can come boldly before His throne and that despite our shortcomings He still wants us to be a part of His kingdom.