"Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon, 'Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in My statutes and obey My rules and keep all My commandments and walk in them, then I will establish My word with you, which I spoke to David your father. And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake My people Israel.'"
1 Kings 6:11-13
It almost sounds like God started out talking about the Temple but got distracted and ended up talking about something else. He begins with, “Concerning this House that you are building...” And then He talks instead about the Covenant and about being faithful to His Word.
God didn’t lose His train of thought. He was saying, “Don’t get so focused on the house you’re building that you forget what it’s really about.”
What it’s really about is living in the covenant relationship with God, trusting in His Word and living in accordance with it.
We can get focused on the great work we are doing in God’s name, the legacy we think we are raising up, but let our personal walk with Jesus get out of focus. We might put all our attention on a new church building, or on building the congregation by increasing the number of members, or on building a business or building a great and powerful nation. But if we forget the more important things of how we respond to God and to His Word, it’s all for nothing. We might succeed in building whatever it is, but God won’t be in it. It will become an empty shell of a temple, or of a life.
God promised Solomon that if they kept their focus on their relationship with Him, then He would live among them and be their God and bless them, as He had promised.
Dear Christian, it’s not about what you accomplish for the Lord; it’s about who you are. Keep your relationship with Jesus fresh, focus on being the person that He has declared you to be. Keep your attention on letting the character of Jesus, the fruit of the Spirit, become the defining characteristic of your life. Everything else, no matter how good it is, is secondary.
Lord Jesus, keep my eyes on You. Give me a heart that’s sensitive to Your Word and responds quickly to the prompting of Your Spirit, so that my relationship with You defines the focus of my life. Amen.
Pastor Dan Giles