September 27

“The New Testament teaches that our lives are temples because Christ abides in us.  We cannot assume by this that our lives are pleasing to Him.  Like Solomon, we must thoroughly prepare ourselves so that God will choose to reveal His presence in our lives.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 9/17

Solomon prepared the Temple to receive the glory of God by sacrificing animals as payment for his and the people’s sins.  2 Chronicles 7:1 tells us that fire came down from Heaven and consumed the sacrifices on the altar.  For us, Jesus laid Himself on the altar, bearing our sins for us.  In doing so, our sins were “consumed with fire” and we were made fit for God’s Holy Spirit to inhabit us.  This was done once for all time.  Yet we act as though we have to keep going to the altar and perform this act all over again each time we become aware of our sin.  We think it is somehow spiritual.  But all it serves to do is keep us in chains.  Instead God wants us to confess our sins and with thanksgiving acknowledge His Goodness for having freed us from having to pay for them ourselves.  It is this gratefulness that will keep our hearts purified and therefore pleasing to Him.  It’s in exercising the faith that God has given us that we are freed from the guilt of sin.  As children of God we will experience His presence because His glory shall fill us.

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion (KJV: lust), and become partakers of the divine nature.”  2 Peter 1:3, 4