Life's Daily Challenge Devotional

Temple made without hands

"For he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God," Heb. 11:10.

"We heard Him say, 'I will destroy this temple made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands,'" Mark 14:58.

Psalm 127:1 says, "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it..."

Dear temple of God,

It's hard for us to imagine that God could possibly want to build our lives. After all we were taught to "pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps," or "God helps those that help themselves," or an even more subtle one, "Just do all that you can do and God will do the rest." The truth is that God isn't satisfied with the parts that we can't “figure out what to do with.” He wants to be the Builder of all that we are, of all that we have, and of all that we do. He has had a master plan for our lives from before we were born. His plan is the ultimate design for efficiency, effectiveness, and pleasure. God wants to build a house that He is pleased to live in, and through which He can work.

Why wouldn't we want to allow Him to remodel our lives to accommodate His tastes? Why wouldn't we want to be a place where God really enjoyed spending time. God has everything that we will ever need. It seems to me that if we want lasting answers, and true success, that we would want to become a dwelling where God's presence was comfortable.

He is the only one capable of such a transformation. This kind of a job can only be performed without human hands. No amount of human ingenuity, sweat, or toil can make the unholy, holy. We cannot make ourselves into what God wants us to be. Many people are deluded in this respect. Their relationship with God is cold, distant, and legalistic. They make sacrifices out of guilt. They are frustrated because no matter how hard they try, it's never good enough. They fear the wrath of God rather than longing for His intimacy. They are more afraid of hell than they are excited about eternal life. Because they feel they will never be good enough, they tend toward rebellion and resentment. In reality, most people who are lost in this cycle of religion are transferring the relationship that they had with their physical parents (especially their father) into their relationship with God.

There are basically three kinds of people... those who build their own lives independent of God's plans, those who try to build the life that they think God wants them to have, and those who yield to God's building program. Most Christians would admit that it is vain to build a life independent of God. Fewer recognize that it is just as vain to try to build a life for God.

Stop trying to build a life that you think would please God. Let Him build what He wants in and through you. This does not require blood, sweat, and tears. What it does require may seem even harder for you to give... relationship, communication, faith, obedience. It's more like building a "pre-fad" house. God has already designed and fabricated the pieces. He sends us the pieces one at a time and tells us what to do with them. He tells us what to order next, and where it goes. The plans may not always make sense to us. Following His instructions precisely requires constant communication. It's our relationship with the Architect (God the Father), with the General Contractor (Jesus), and with the Foreman (The Holy Spirit) that gives us confidence and peace.

Aren't you tired of being driven? Does it seem as if the success that you long for is just beyond your grasp? No matter how much you accomplish, or own, does it seem like you're still not quite "there"? Are you getting tired of running on the treadmill of performance? Does it often seem like life is vain? LET THE LORD BUILD THE HOUSE!