I had such a hard time writing this weeks blog, not because I don’t know what to write. I’m focusing on an upcoming exhibit and working hard to complete artwork, frames and more.
It suddenly dawned on me that what I’m experiencing goes hand in hand with what I want to share.
The 17th of Tammuz (we in the Hebrew month if Tammuz) signifies the commencement of the three weeks of mourning over the destruction of the first and second Holy Temples. Jews still mourn and fast during this time, mourning and waiting for the new temple.
It’s important to realize that we no longer need to seek the outward temple when we have the temple within.
Interior Temple
The temple was a place of worship and sacrifices to God for the forgiveness of sins, a place where God met with His people. Only seeking this natural place without realizing that we already have it within us could end up back under the law. Christ came to set us free from the bondage of the law.
“But when Christ appeared as a High Priest of the good things to come [that is, true spiritual worship], He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not a part of this [material] creation. He went once for all into the Holy Place [the Holy of Holies of heaven, into the presence of God], and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, having obtained and secured eternal redemption [that is, the salvation of all who personally believe in Him as Savior]. For if the sprinkling of [ceremonially] defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a [burnt] heifer is sufficient for the cleansing of the body, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal [Holy] Spirit willingly offered Himself unblemished [that is, without moral or spiritual imperfection as a sacrifice] to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works and lifeless observances to serve the ever-living God?” Hebrews 9:11-13
We serve Him from the inside out.
Have we made our interior temple the now holiest place for Him to dwell? Is He seated on the mercy seat of your heart. Or are the things of the outside world still affecting your realm on the inside? Indeed it should be our internal worship that transforms our world.
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is within you, whom you have [received as a gift] from God and that you are not your own [property]? You were bought with a price [you were actually purchased with the precious blood of Jesus and made His own]. So then, honor and glorify God with your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Stillness within
Earlier I said I struggled to write the blog because my focus was on things I needed to accomplish. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have jobs or daily tasks. But the way we approach life should be from an inner temple of stillness.
When we enter a sacred place then there’s a silence that falls upon us. A reference for the space we entered. The same manner, we should enter our inner temple with the same stillness.
He (Christ) entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not a part of this [material] creation. You are the greater tabernacle, He is entering through into this natural realm. Becoming still in this inner sanctuary, allows the soul to submit to spirit.
It’s in this place that we can hear more clearly. It’s in this place where the things of the world grow dim and our hearts are enlightened with the light of His Glory. Then we can change the physical world.
Teresa of Avila said it this way.
“I was so little able to put things before me by the help of my understanding, that, unless I saw a thing with my eyes, my imagination was of no use whatever. I could not do as others do, who can put matters before themselves so as to become thereby recollected. I was able to think of Christ only as a man. But so it was; and I never could form any image of Him to myself, though I read much of His beauty, and looked at pictures of Him. I was like one who is blind, or in the dark, who, though speaking to a person present, and feeling his presence, because he knows for certain that he is present—I mean, that he understands him to be present, and believes it—yet does not see him…
We struggle to find Him right in front of us when we are busy or life is in chaos. Silence the mind to get to the inner stillness there you will find Him waiting on you.
