STRENGTH FOR THE WEEK.

“However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says: 

“‘Heaven is my throne,

   and the earth is my footstool.

What kind of house will you build for me?

says the Lord.

   Or where will my resting place be?

Has not my hand made all these things”

Acts 7:48

The people of Israel in Jesus’s time had become too focussed on temple worship. Their religion had become all about what they did at the temple in Jerusalem. This is dangerous for two reasons;

Firstly, it limits our view of God as someone that be confined to a temple made by human hands. As this scripture reminds us, God made the universe! He made the very hands and the very stones that were used to build the temple. The second danger is that we fall in the trap of thinking that if we are doing what we are supposed to do at the temple, then God will accept us, even if we are rejecting Him in how we live the rest of our lives.

Today, we don’t have a temple, we have churches, where most Christians gather to worship every Sunday morning. This is a good thing. But this is not what it means to be a Christian.

Being a Christian means we worship the God who created the universe. The God who knows and cares for us in intimate detail. The God who gives us our every breath. Having a right view of God and how awesome and majestic He is will draw our hearts to true, unrestricted worship. So this week, try and go outside on a clear night and look at the stars, and just worship the awesomeness of God.

Secondly, being a Christian means following Jesus with your whole life, Monday through to Sunday. It can be hard with the busy pressures of life, so we may need to make time to stop, each day, or a couple of times a day and ask Jesus how we can worship Him there and then. Some days, He may lead us to talk to someone we wouldn’t normally talk to, who needs encouragement. Other days He may simply want us to sit at His feet and listen to what He has to say. So why not try doing that this week. Don’t miss out on the fullness of life that Jesus came to bring by only living for him for one day of the week.

By: Toby Lewis-Donaldson