Wednesday, October 15, 2008

God needs a Body II

2:31 PM by Christi Bowman

(Continued from last post)

Hebrews 3:6 Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, IF we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.

Are we really holding on to our courage and the hope of which we boast when we take ownership of our lives and decide what we are going to do with them? Are we holding on when we decide, for ourselves, what our lives will look like? Have we even asked God what His plans are for our lives, or do we just keep inviting Him to walk beside us as we carry out plans of our own? Holding on to courage and hope does not look like fending for ourselves, or even supplying our own needs.

God does not help those who help themselves...or maybe He does help them...all the way to rock bottom. Do you find yourself at rock bottom a lot? I know I did...and I kept fighting to get myself out and it would just keep rock bottom at bay for another couple of years, but rock bottom kept chasing me and at times it would overwhelm me. I lived with the fear of rock bottom looming over me, and I was exhausted from running from it and constantly fighting my own way out. Finally I had to let it overtake me I was officially at the end of my rope. I had to admit that nothing I sought after brought any real happiness, and admitting that scared the crap out of me because that nothing that I sought after was all that I had to keep my world from crashing down upon me.

Funny thing that rock bottom; it did not look like everything I was afraid of. Instead, rock bottom was the point at which I began to find freedom...freedom from chasing and being chased. Rock bottom became my place of rest but only once I stopped digging myself out. Do you hit rock bottom and dig yourself out? There is rest for you. Has your money, your pride, or your power kept you from rock bottom? Self reliance is a tiresome battle and there is no courage or hope in it.

We see in 2 Chronicles God's decision to inhabit the temple, but perhaps the saddest set of verses in the Bible are found in 2 Chronicles 28.

22In the time of his distress he became yet more faithless to the LORD-this same King Ahaz. 23For^(C) he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that had defeated him and said,^(D) "Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me." But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. 24And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and^(E) cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and he shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and he made himself^(F) altars in every corner of Jerusalem. 25In every city of Judah he made high places to^(G) make offerings to other gods, provoking to anger the LORD, the God of his fathers.

Our bodies are a temple (I Cor 6:19). The temple allegory was not an accident. How many times have we in our distress turned from God and sacrificed to the gods of money, pride, and power for help. That is not holding on to courage and the hope that is within us...that is shutting the doors of the house of God and setting up altars in every corner of our lives.

(Continued)

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