Lord, Prepare Me To Be A Sanctuary

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

My church is about to start building a brand new sanctuary. It’s an exciting time. This sunday is a big finacial leap of faith for the congregation, our pastors, and our community. We all have a magnet of an elephant that says, “One bite at a time.” Because we need a lot of money to build this new building but if we all pitch in what we can, the job will get done by the grace of God and the obedience of His people.

But this new construction got me thinking. A nice building is important but the Church as described in Ephesians 5:29-30 is the body of Christ. That’s us! That’s us as people, as Christians, as followers, as family. We are the Church. We are the body of Christ. Just as sanctuaries need to be updated, remodeled, and expanded to better accomedate the movings of the Spirit- we also need to be. A living, walking, breathing, sanctuary. We need to be adamant with our upkeep.

After all, we do house the anointing and the Holy Spirit. “You realize don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalizing God’s temple, you can be sure of that. God’s temple is sacred- and you, remember, are the temple.” 1 Cor. 3:16(MSG). When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are made new and clean and blameless. But just because we’re forgiven doesn’t mean we’re perfect. That’s why we need a Savior.

Of course, the over thinker in me got all tore up about this. Because how in the world will I ever get in tip top shape to carry around the power and anointing of God?! I’ve got so many flaws. So many worries that I know I’m supposed to lay down but just haven’t quite figured how to. I’ve got so many doubts that I don’t want anyone to know about. I’ve got so many issues floating around in my head that I get overwhelmed with the work that needs to be done in me to clean out this head space and be a proper sanctuary.

Just as our motto for building a new sanctuary finacially is “one bite at a time,” as is the approach we have to take to being remodled spirtually. One day at a time, one issue at a time. And with each cobweb and dust bunny in my life that I lay down at the Potter’s feet I find myself being prepped and prepared. I find myself being remodled, restored to better than before. Not all at once, but simply one bite at a time.

Be Blessed!

Jordan Smith