The people of Israel, including the Levites, are to bring their contributions of grain, new wine and olive oil to the storerooms, where the articles for the sanctuary and for the ministering priests, the gatekeepers and the musicians are also kept. “We will not neglect the house of our God.” – Nehemiah 10:39

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 31, 2017): Nehemiah 10

Robert Watson-Watt advocated for a “cult of the imperfect.” Watson-Watt, the man who developed the early warning radar system in Britain to defend the island nation against the threat of the German Luftwaffe, argued: “give them the third best to go on with; the second best comes too late, the best never comes.” The argument is that we can’t wait for perfection. We have to make a move now, or we will be making our move when the threat has already passed.

I have to admit that I struggle with Watson-Watt’s words. Maybe it is the perfectionist in me, but too often in modern society, we settle for what is “good enough” because we have no desire to put in the effort to do something better. Why excel at something when merely a pass will do. Why put out a great product, when a good product will make money. There exists a tension between doing our best within a certain time parameter and coming up with Watson-Watt’s “third best,” and calling something that is sub standard third best when it is far below even that, all because we didn’t want to put in the effort.

The one place I clearly see this principle at work is in the church. There is a phrase I greatly dislike – “It is good enough for the church.” Under the auspices of this concept have come poor artistic performances and a parade of badly used furniture. As far as the furniture is concerned, I am often convinced that the church becomes the dumping ground for old items because it is cheaper to give it to the church than to take it to the dump. But just for a second, consider this thought. A piece of furniture is not good enough for your house, so you are replacing it. It is, however, good enough for God’s house. And so the furniture flows through the doors of the church requiring pastors all over the world to smile broadly and thank their parishioners, and then quietly find a truck to take the junk to the dump where it should have gone in the first place.

All of this takes on the form of being negligent toward the house of God. It is not the best we could offer, even if our best is really only Watson-Watt’s third best. It is merely good enough, and we have no desire to do better.

Nehemiah knew the history of the Temple. Too often the priests went hungry, and they did not have the tools to do their jobs because the house of God had been neglected. Now, together, the people of Israel were vowing to change that past behavior. Maybe the best that they could give to the house of God was not a reality. And the second best might never come. But they would make the house of God a priority and bring in the third best that they held in their hands right now. It was the very best that the present moment afforded them. This would belong to God. And this was their pledge.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Nehemiah 11