Day 36
Exodus 21:22‐23:13; Matthew 24:1‐28; Psalm 29:1‐11; Proverbs 7:6‐23
Building a Living Temple
One of the most amazing experiences when traveling to the Holy Land is to go to what is commonly called the Wailing Wall. Built by Herod in the 19th Century B.C., the Western Wall is all that is left from the massive second Temple that took 46 years to build. The Temple was a place for prayer, study and sacrifice. However, the Jews had become too dependent upon the temple building itself, and had become less dependent upon God—the spiritual temple of faith. The temple did not have the power to save them from their enemies. It soon fell to the Romans and, as Jesus predicted, “not one stone was left on another.”
Too often we worry about our church buildings more than we concern ourselves with building the souls and minds of the people of God. What Jesus wants us to build is a temple, not of bricks and mortar, but a temple of the heart…a passion and love for Jesus that compels us to reach out to people in our community who don’t know Him. In fact, Jesus commanded us to do just that. We are commanded to build a living temple that leads directly to God. Why? Because there will come a day when this world will end.
In the meantime, we are to encourage one another to continue to build a living temple, not of this world, but of the next.
The Rev. Danielle Dubois Morris