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.