1 kings 7
…..you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ….
1 Peter 2:5 NKJV
In the last verse of chapter 6, Bible recorded that it took Solomon 7 years to build the Temple in Jerusalem. In today’s reading, we learnt he took him 13 years to build his own palace. On the face if it, this may look as if Solomon wanted to build himself a more glorious structure than the temple, but I will like to think this is not the case.
Instead, am inclined to think that in the scheme of things, building the temple and finishing it took priority over any other business. The number of years it took him then is not as important as the implication of this in our own lives.
1 Pet 2:4 tells us that Christ, is a living stone though rejected men, but chosen by God and precious. For us who have come to Christ through faith in His redemptive work, we are also living stones who are being built up a spiritual house to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. This is the crux of the matter.
In Solomon’s time, the completion of the temple ushered in a new season for the Israelites in the worship of Jehovah. God promised that His eternal presence would never leave the Temple as long as Israel obeyed His commandments.
From the scripture above, the goal of every believer then, should be to be acceptable to God as our lives are being built in the image of His son, Jesus Christ. The world may not find us attractive, but as we walk in obedience to the instructions of God in righteousness, our lives become a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to the Father of spirits.
Paul also dealt with the importance of paying attention to how we build up our lives in 2 Tim 2:20-21 first by highlighting that in a great house, there are different types of vessesls – of gold and silver, of wood and clay, some for honour and some for dishonour, he places the responsibility on us to cleanse ourselves of anything that can deny us of our usefulness to the Master for every good work.
We are not under any illusion that individually and collectively, our work in this regard is cut out for us. As members of Christ’s body, we must forbear and be patient with one another as each person is being built up to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph 4:13)
