by Jim Hughes
Ps. 48:9 O God, we meditate on your unfailing love as we worship in your Temple.
What is the temple? It is God’s dwelling place. The temple of God has a three-fold meaning. It can be a building we worship in, it can be us, or it can be our Lord himself. It is where we meet God.
What should we being doing in the temple? We should meditate on God’s unfailing love as we worship Him. Dear friend, consider His great love for us. Consider His love in providing for us a church family to worship with. Consider those who are a part of your church family and the love they have for you and the Lord. Sure, there are those who don’t show you or the Lord much, if any, love, but there are many who do. Let their love encourage you and comfort you in your journey of faith.
Consider the love of God in you. God loves you beyond your comprehension. He took you at your worst and embraced you. He did for you what you nor anyone else could do; He forgave you for your sins and removed them from you forever. He cleaned you up so that He himself could take up residence in your heart. He is with you always to help you live a holy life. He chose you as His dwelling place.
Consider our Lord Jesus. Jesus is God’s love fleshed out. Jesus came to earth to show us just what God’s love is like and to invite us to participate in that love. Jesus died for your sins because He loves you. He chose to die for you. He could have said no and just gone to heaven without you, but He loves you too much to have done that. He loves you and does everything He can to show you His love.
Whenever you pause to worship the Lord, think about these things. He never will stop loving you and He will pursue you for as long as you live. Dear friend, you are loved by God. You can’t always depend on the love of others, but you can always depend on God’s love.
Let us be careful how we treat those whom God loves. Who are we to look down on, spurn, or mistreat those whom God loves? We can’t really love God if we don’t likewise love those whom God loves. In worship we should as well ask the Lord to enable us to be lovers of others as we walk with the Lord.
About the Author:
Spending his formative years in Ft. Wayne, IN, Jim followed the love of his life to southeast Iowa where they married and have spent the majority of their lives. Jim has pastored several churches throughout his life and has worked many years in local factories to help support his family. The father of two married adult children and one son still at home, Jim is a first-time author.
C Through Marriage came into being through many years of pastoral and life experiences. The book first took on a life of its own over 20 years ago when I sought to address the much publicized moral failures of prominent leaders in the church. In the chapter on Chasity, I include the guideliness that I developed then to protect one’s self from such failures.
I am a firm believer in order to make sense out of life you have to use much common sense. We need to get back to the basics of what has worked for many, many generations. If is isn’t broke, why try to fix it? I strive to return to the basics of what really works in all my writings.