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REFLECTION

Worship in a temple is the theme for our reflection. A temple is an edifice or a building consecrated as the House of the Lord dedicated to His service. A temple is a place where worshippers go to make sacrifices as a result of their covenant relationship with Him. Solomon builds a temple for the Lord and the Lord consecrated it but gave two important conditions upon which His glory or presence shall remain in the temple.

The first condition is, worshippers must come to the temple or the House of God in total humility and repentance thus “…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.” (2 Chronicles 7:14-16 ). In other words, we cannot come to a Holy place with pride and sinful hearts. Once a building is chosen by God and consecrated by God as a Holy place, we must come before Him in Holiness. Repentance is the first stage of becoming Holy, repentance means we are ready to reconnect or reestablished our broken relationship with God or to be reconciled to Him. Peter admonished us that “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:14-16) Dear friend, it is possible to come to the temple or the House of God all the time yet God will not have any relationship with you because you are unholy, proud and unrepentant. We come with our sins and leave with them because we take delight and pride in doing them. How can a believer survive in the world without the glory and grace of God in his or her life? The only way to experience the glory of God in our lives and to become beneficiaries of His grace is when we come to His presence or His temple with a humble and repentant heart like the tax collector who beat his chest and said “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ (Luke 18:13). Beloved in the Lord, let us not be like the arrogant, unrepentant and self-righteous Pharisees who prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ (Luke 18:11-12). Jesus said the tax collector was justified before God in the temple because of his prayer and posture of repentance and humility before God. Remember, it does not matter how many times we have attended church services or we have been punctual or present in the temple since we became Christians, a repentant prostitute, armed robber or criminal who has been saved and has started coming to the house of the Lord recently is more justified than those of us who are unrepentant, self-righteous but in actual fact, are living in hypocrisy.

Second, apart from showing humility and repentance, we must constantly live according to the decrees and commands of God if we desire to experience His glory or presence in His temple. “But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them —that is why he brought all this disaster on them.’” (2 Chronicles 7:19-22). It is interesting to note that from Monday to Friday or Saturday, many people who claim to be Christians do abominable things, take bribes, embezzle state funds and company funds but on Sunday, the temples are full to capacity with the majority of us appearing before God sanctimoniously and innocently. Many Christians have refused to live by the Word of God and are indeed contributing to the evils of society because of greed and uncontrolled desires of the flesh and for worldly possessions. Money and worldly possessions have become the gods we worship in our dispensation. Many of us have become so obsessed with material things to the extent that the Word of God which teaches us the decrees and commands of God is the last thing we think of in our scheme of preference or priority. Some of us have replaced God in our hearts with worldly possessions and the only reason for entering His temple is that it is a Sunday routine and a social event of meeting family and friends. Let us please God by not turning away from His decrees and commandments so that we shall have a supernatural encounter with] Him in His temple any time we come together as worshippers. The Psalmist knows the importance of obeying God’s decrees and commandments therefore He wrote “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws. (Psalms 119:105-106). My dear friend, do you own a Bible as a believer? How often do you read and study it? Do you apply the Word of God in every aspect of your life? These questions are important for our reflection if we truly want to prove our faithfulness and obedience to His decrees and commands. Shalom.

PRAYER

Holy Spirit, strengthen us to always come to worship in the temple with a repentant and obedient heart so that we shall endlessly experience God’s glory and grace in our lives. Amen.