Today’s reading is Psalm 26.
Have you ever walked into a friend’s house for the first time and just been blown away? It’s layout is cool. The décor is fabulous. It’s cozy. You just love it. You wish it was yours, and you start mentally jotting down ideas about how to improve your house. Psalm 26 is all about that. Except it isn’t simply a friend’s house, it is the Lord’s house. “O Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.” For David, this referred to the tabernacle. After Solomon, it spoke of the temple. But for us, it is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:19-22 demonstrates that the collection of all Christians whether Jews or Gentiles is the temple of the Lord. Ephesians 3:19 is the prayer that this modern temple will be filled with the fullness of God, that is, being filled with His glory. While this refers to the universal church, the sum collection of all disciples of all places and of all times, we mostly interact with this temple at a congregational level. Don’t misunderstand, I’m not saying each congregation is a temple of the Lord, but our interaction with the temple (the universal church) is on that congregational level (the local church). This entire psalm is about “going to church.” No, it isn’t about going to a church’s building. Rather, it is about gathering with the church, the assembly, the brothers and sisters. It is about gathering to worship the Lord God with our spiritual family. Whether we are gathering to pray, sing, read Scripture, break the Bread of Life, or break the bread of communion, or a combination of these things, David demonstrates the attitude we should have. Do you look forward to Sunday? Do you look forward to congregational gatherings, classes, worship, singings, prayings just because it is time with God’s church, time in God’s house, time in the midst of God’s glory? Or is it a checklist item you want to mark off as quickly as possible and get out of the way so you can get on with all the other things you think are more important? No doubt. It’s a growth process. But may we all get to where we can say, “I love Your house, Lord!”
Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 26.
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A Word for Our Kids
Hey kids, for David, the habitation of the Lord’s house was the tabernacle. For us, it is Christ’s church. How do you view “going to church”? Did you notice that I put that phrase in quotes? The reason I did is because that phrase gets used so often that many use it incorrectly. Some think of “church” as the building. So they say “going to church” to mean going to a building. They left their Bible at the building, and so on Monday afternoon, when no one else is there or even going to be there, they say, “I’ve got to go to church and find my Bible.” But the church is not the building. Some think of “church” as the service time. You might hear them say, “We have church on Sundays at 10am.” But “church” is not the service or the rituals of worship. In the Bible, “church” actually refers to the people. “Going to church” should mean for us, gathering with the people of God or assembling with the people of God. Now it doesn’t mean any time I’m with another Christian that I’ve “gone to church.” The church is the group, not the individual members. Loving the house of the Lord today doesn’t mean loving the building, it means loving God’s people and loving being with God’s people. It means loving to get together and worship the Lord, edifying one another, and encouraging one another to serve our King. If you don’t already, I hope you can grow to say that you love “going to church.”
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