Building Your Temple
In my daily readings, I came across 1 Kings 5 and 6. I encourage you to go read them. Simply, they are a description of the work done by Solomon to build the Temple in Jerusalem. It took seven years to build. I was struck by the opulence and detail that went into building the Temple. The size of the stones and their strength. The cedar planks and how they must have smelled. The cypress wood and how beautiful it was. The gold overlay and how it gleamed. The intricate carvings and their craftsmanship.
It was interesting, but I'm always thinking about how this applies to my life. It's nice to know the history and imagine the beauty of the Temple, but what does this mean today? As I prayed about this today, I thought about this:
We are the Temple of the Holy Spirit.
Not a building. You and I are the Temple. If Solomon spent so much care on creating and crafting a physical building, how much more care should we take on our Temple?
We should build stability in our lives through the rock of our salvation.
We should build beauty in our lives by allowing God to bring beauty from ashes.
We should create a sweet aroma to the Lord through our lives of obedience and holiness.
We should allow the Lord to refine us like gold so that the world can see the richness of Christ in us.
We should allow the Word of God to be carved into our souls as a witness.
The beauty of the presence of the Holy Spirit should be evident in our lives. Of course, it took seven years and many thousands to build the Temple. Your temple will not develop overnight...but it will be built if you put work into it. And be sure, it is YOUR work. The foundation is laid when you follow Jesus, but all the rest is on you.
So. BUILD! It is an act of worship!
SONGS FOR SUNDAY
You Are Good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul6i6Kz2p2k
Always So Good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXCo4I2bVFg
Good Good Father
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ak0OoFBw3c
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbDNkwcuBus
...and we are learning
Same God