Building Little Temples

January 1, 2014

"Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don’t be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord
God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. He will
see to it that all the work related to the Temple of the Lord is finished correctly." 1 Chronicles 28:20

I have such good intentions.

Our children recently received a package in the mail from a camp they attended this past summer. The package contained a calendar and three sets of postcards. The inside cover of the calendar explained the significance of hand-written correspondence. My children immediately wanted to "write" on the postcards. But I had better intentions.

I refused to surrender the post cards until I had a chance to sit down with our children and read the information from the inside cover of the calendar. But about that same time a bowl shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces on our kitchen floor. The postcards--and my good intentions--would have to wait.

"Hand over the postcards," my husband said. "But I want to read the calendar to them first," I protested. "Hand over the postcards," my husband repeated with a sympathetic smile on his face. "But I need to teach them how to use a postcard," I pleaded.

Some may call it Type-A personality (and those some may have a point). I call it good intentions.

I want to play Ladderball with my kids. I want to make crafts with my
kids. I want to visit the elderly in nursing homes and to serve others
as a family and . . . the list continues. Yet the demands of raising a
family seem to consume most of my waking moments. When my list of good
intentions remains undone I grow utterly discouraged.

King David had good intentions too. David desired to build a temple for God. David spent much time and effort making preparations for building God's dwelling place. But God prevented David from following through with his good intentions. Instead, God chose one of David's sons, Solomon, to build His Temple. In 1 Chronicles 28:20 David tells Solomon, "Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don’t be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord
God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. He will
see to it that all the work related to the Temple of the Lord is finished correctly."

I too am building [little] temples for God. In 1 Corinthians 6:19 Paul writes, "Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?"

Two of our children have professed their faith in Christ. Ephesians 1:13 tells me that when our children made their professions of faith God placed His Spirit in our children. Two of our children are temples for God (they're just still under construction). My husband and I pray that the foundations in our other two children will one day prove strong enough to also become temples for God.

Proverbs 16:3 tells me to commit my actions to the LORD, and my plans will succeed.

Proverbs 22:6 promises that if I direct my children onto the right path, when they are older, they will not leave it.

Rather than feeling discouraged when I fail to accomplish my good intentions I must remember the words of David to his own son. God is with me. He will
see to it that all the work--all the work--related to building [little] temples of the Lord is finished correctly.