Set Up, Not By Man

“Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain…” Psalm 127:1

Boy does this sound simple but it is one of the most difficult things in life to accomplish. Each of us carries within us the passion and ability to build our lives around something. We were born to long for…to pursue…to be fulfilled. We determine which god we will serve by building churches based upon the god we exalt. Will our chosen god be God, the Creator? Will we build our temple surrounding the god of excess, the god of work or the god of bitterness?

Within the walls of our self-made churches we walk down the aisle of self-focus and lay ourselves upon the altar. We set up buffets of potluck dinners feeding our egos and our drive for power. We volunteer within its walls to exalt ourselves and satisfy our own desires. We build churches around our gods and attend more than just once a week. We give more than one-tenth to our god and sign up for everything to make sure we get what we think we deserve. We look out for number one in this self-made building not realizing that everything done within and for our church is in vain because the presence of the one true God is absent. We appoint ourselves as elder, deacon and pastor eliminating the need for God to serve in any role in this church.

We must build our spiritual temples pouring the footings of Christ into the foundation. Through the guidance of our Builder we must lay brick by brick, layer by layer and allow God to fill in with His mortar for eternal significance. Any labor that works towards our own agenda must be stopped and replaced with the blueprint of Christ. Only by tearing down our self-made temples, will the presence of the one true God move into our hearts, lead our lives and build His church within us in His way. ‘Now there have been many of those priests…but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood…Such a high priest meets our needs – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens… We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.’ Hebrews 7:23-8:2.

...tabernacles…not set up by man!