Life's Daily Challenge Devotional

Seemingly nothing

"Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing," Hag. 2:3?

"For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us," 2 Corinthians 4:6-7.

Glorious one,

Gold, embroideries, carvings, pavements, and pillars... the temple was breathtakingly beautiful. God was never impressed by any of these things. His passion was not for the building, but rather for the man himself. The former temple was a pattern. It modeled different aspects of the works that the Holy Spirit would one day do in Christ's followers. The worship that God was searching for was not one of temple ritual. It was one of truthful surrender to the Holy Spirit's leading (John 4:23-24).

Those who give their lives to Christ become God's temple. He is searching for those who will be a perfect house (Matt. 5:48). Perfection in God's eyes is never a matter of "having arrived." It is rather a matter of "being in Christ." Jesus Himself said that no one can be good except God Himself, (Matt. 19:17). Our goodness will never come from our human nature. It will never be the result of the things that we do for God or for other people. Flesh is flesh. No flesh can glory in the presence of a holy God (1Cor. 1:29). Trying to do good things through our fallen nature is like trying to dress up a pig. No matter how much you dress up a pig it's still a pig. So is our flesh. What we can do is surrender to the working of the Holy Spirit, so that it is no longer us trying to do it for God, but God doing it through us. All that God does it good.

The irony of this is that God's glory lives in a temple susceptible to weakness and failure. People looking at it would most often not be impressed. This is truly by design. All who witness the display of God's power through this house should recognize that the house had little to do with it. This house should truly reflect praise back to a wonderful loving God Who would choose to do so much in and through so little. So let us yield our lives to Him!