Lord, help me be alert and don't let this lack of good sleep affect my mental state this morning. I need to be ready for worship, as well as to give whatever support is needed for the community that is the Body of Christ.
Psalm 46:4-7
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
"City of God" is a metaphor that denotes anywhere that God dwells. In the New Testament, this is seen as a "heavenly community...where believers praise the Lord forever. God fills that place with His glory and peace. Fear, darkness, and vulnerability will be foreign there."
But how does that help us in the here and now? How do we live with our daily stress and fears? How do we cope with anxiety and pressure, especially in the tumultuous economic times in which we are living? We must grasp the glorious truth that God is with us now! "The God of Jacob is our fortress," and he is our fortress right now. We don't have to wait until we reside in that heavenly community to experience this.
Hebrews 12:22
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
Similar to the reading above, this reading makes reference to the church as being the dwelling place of God, or the city of God, or the house of God. But not in the sense of the physical building, but in the sense of the Church, the Body of Christ. We are his habitation.
"[The church] is...compared to a house, and every converted sinner is one of the family; a servant, and a child in God's house. The church is also compared to a building, founded on the doctrine of Christ; delivered by the prophets of the Old Testament, and the apostles of the New. God dwells in all believers now; they become the temple of God through the working of the blessed Spirit. Let us then ask if our hopes are fixed on Christ, according to the doctrine of his word? Have we devoted ourselves as holy temples to God through him? Are we habitations of God by the Spirit, are we spiritually-minded, and do we bring forth the fruits of the Spirit?"
(From commentary on Ephesians 2:19-22)
Tough questions. But worthy of our consideration.
Matthew 13:55-56
55 Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this mand get all these things?
These were comments from people in Jesus's home town. To them, he was just a common citizen. They focused in irrelevant facts which distracted them from the truth of Jesus's teachings. "People today don't like the personality of the evangelist, claim all church members are hypocrites, and dislike the details and order of a worship service. There is always a rationalization for them to rebuff the clear message of Jesus Christ."
"True skeptics are easily offended by the most trivial things Christians do, and they often allow those matters to be all-important and the center of their perspective."
But before we point fingers and accuse the unbelievers, we must ask ourselves if we use similar excuses to justify our "less than Biblical" lifestyles.
Yeah, that gets on my toes, too.
Let us fulfill that obligation and responsibility as your Church; as your Body; as your dwelling place. Let all "rationalizations" be blown away like so much chaff from the wheat. I just pray that, after the chaff is blown away, that there will be something left.
Grace and peace, friends.