Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video from Cheri Keaggy singing … In Remembrance of Me … poignantly singing of how we should come to celebrate the New Covenant and how we live our lives in remembrance of the sacrifice of our Lord so that He could live in our hearts forever.
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Highlight Verse[s]: 2Chronicles 2:5-6 [NLT] … 5 “This must be a magnificent Temple because our God is greater than all other gods. 6 But who can really build him a worthy home? Not even the highest heavens can contain him! So who am I to consider building a Temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices to him?
…God’s Temple should be built to be worthy of our great God.
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Highlight Passage [context]: 2Chronicles 2:1-10 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Solomon wanted God’s Temple to be great enough to honor a great God.
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Reference Passage [NLT] : … John 14:21 [NLT] … 21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”
… Jesus commands all His disciple to show our love for Him as our way of honoring His love for us; and when we do that He will reside in His temple.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … 1st Corinthians 6:19-20 [NLT] … 19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
… Our bodies are God’s Holy Temple; and we should do all we can to keep the Temple of His Holy Spirit pure and undefiled.
Reference Passage [NLT] : … 1Corinthians 11:27-29 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… When we come fo Christ’s Table to remember His gift to us, we should do so having cleansed His Temple to receive the elements in remembrance of His sacrifice for us.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Kirsten Holmberg, related a personal story illustrating how we go out of our way to honor special people in our lives with special gifts (see photo). The ODB author wrote: My husband recently celebrated a milestone birthday, the kind that ends in a zero. I thought hard about the best way to honor him on this important occasion. I discussed my many ideas with our children to help me home in on the best one. I wanted our celebration to reflect the significance of a new decade and how precious he is to our family. I wanted our gift to be in keeping with the importance of this milestone in his life.
It’s that attitude of giving back to God in remembrance of His greatness which motivated Solomon to build a magnificent Temple for his God which reflected how great is our God (see highlight passages above). And it is that attitude which we should have when we live our lives, realizing and recognizing that we are God’s “temple,” and His Spirit lives in our hearts (see 1Cor 6:19).
So, inspired by my meditation from this ODB devotional time today, I’m asking myself if I am building His “temple” in such a way to reflect His glory and to keep it pure to honor His sacrifice for me. I’m asking myself, as Cheri Keaggy sings and the Apostle Paul reflects (in 1Cor. 11:27-29), if I could come to His table today with a life which honors His willingness to live in my heart?
And as I reflect on these questions, I realize that I need to do more to build His temple and keep it pure, as our Lord deserves such a gift of my sacrifice to honor His.
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Precious Spirit … Help me to keep Your “temple” pure and to live my life to honor Your sacrifice for me. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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