A Surrendered State

I encourage you to read through Romans 6 and just meditate, and dwell on the implications of the gospel that Paul speaks of, in your own life. I only made it three verses in...

Romans 6:3

"Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?"

In this passage Paul is describing how Christians have left behind their old ways to follow Christ. He is explaining that

we have died to sin, to be made alive in Christ.

Paul brings up something tha

t is easy to overlook when thinking about life in Christ. When I think of baptism I think of birth. Of rebirth. A new life cleansed by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that is now a temple of

the Lord. Another part of our baptism in Christ, and an equally important one in that is our

baptism into his death.

His death on the cross not only mea

nt new life, but it also meant a complete separation from sin. Rom 4:25 "who was delivered up

for

our trespasses and raised for our justification", and as we accept the new life he offers, we must be baptized into his death as well. Death from our old habits, death from our sinful ways, death from every part of ourselves that is not Christ! It is impossible for us to live in sin and in Christ at the same time.

Father, help me to leave behind my sinful self. I want to live fully covered in the blood of Christ. Break me down, that I might be built up in your image. Strip me of my pride that I might have nothing left but to rest in your presence. Let your hand guide my ways and lead me down a path to see Jesus and him only.

A Place to Make Offerings

2 Chronicles 2:6

..."Who am I to build a house for Him, except as a place to make offerings before him."

It has been 480 years since Israel was brought out of Egypt and Solomon, son of David, has established himself as king and the Lord is clearly with him. He has accumulated an insane amount of wealth and decides to build a temple, a house for the Lord. Upon laying out his plans for all the ways he will worship the Lord with this temple, he stops and realizes something significant.

He realizes that he is building this great temple, "for our God is Greater than all gods," but not even the heavens can contain our God, so how is this temple going to be a suitable place for the Lord to reside?!

1 Cor 3:16 says, "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you?" I think about this verse and what it means to be a temple of the Lord. Solomon gets carried away with his plans for the temple, then realigns his perspective, and comes to the conclusion that this temple is only a place to make offerings. And so are we.

Daily I must say to myself, "Who am I to build a house for Him, except as a place to make offerings before Him." I take away two things from this verse:

• As I walk through my days, am I building myself as a temple for God? Or am I engaging in things that detract from his glory? Solomon went all out to build this temple, he spared no expense and it was his joy to build a great temple for the Lord. So should I treat my body: physically, mentally, emotionally you name it, it belongs to Him. My body is an undeserving temple where the Lord chooses to reside, and I want it to be a suitable place for the King of Glory to dwell.
• Do I expect to do anything more for God, than simply to serve and glorify him in seeking His face and growing in knowledge of Him? We must continually humble ourselves to the fact that we can do nothing for our Lord. We can neither add nor subtract from his glory and the second we think that we are doing something for Him, that's the second we fall to pride. Solomon describes the temple as having one purpose, and the good news is if we are solely to be a place of offerings for the Lord, then He only has one requirement (Hosea 6:6).

Father, teach me how to let go of my life and all the ways I think I am serving you. Draw me near as I seek your face. Fill this dirty, broken temple with your Spirit and give me the strength to build your house for your glory.

Lord of the Temple

Matthew 21:13

" He said to them, 'It is written, "My house shall be called a house of prayer," but you make it a den of robbers.'"

Christ had just entered Jerusalem in a triumphant way. Riding in on a donkey he was adorned and praised by throngs of people. After this he goes to the temple, and Jesus is disgusted by what he sees. He cleanses the temple of it's impurities and quotes Isaiah 56:7, calling them out on their sin.

Jesus deals with the people defacing the temple rather violently. He does this, I think, because he truly does love them. He does not enter the temple to worship, but rather as Lord over all. He enters in to the temple with an agenda, a plan for righteousness, and he carries it out. The temple was made into a place of sin, of treachery, of sadness and sorrow. But Jesus came into that place and proclaimed it to be a house of prayer, full of joy and closeness to God.

As I walk with him I can't help but identify things in my life that keep me from being close with God, to the things brought into that temple. All the chaos, and distractions, and sin inside that temple mirrors how I treat my walk with the Lord. As a Christian I am a temple yes, but I deface it daily with selfishness and pride and I want more than to be a house of prayer. Despite it's intensity, this passage is encouraging, and I cling to the promise of sanctification! At times I see Christ thrashing about inside my heart, turning over tables and screaming out "I love you!" As he turned the tables over in the temple I believe that Jesus was sad. He was well aware of the sacrifice he was going to make, and he saw what he was doing it for. A people who could never love him back the way he loves us.

Father, your love is enough. Help me to live out this truth in my heart. Cleanse me daily and let me see how much you love me. Let your spirit be contagious and let the cleansing of my heart lead to fruit.