CREDIT: Image by upklyak on Freepik
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Think about your house for a minute … what goes on in there? Who do you let come in to see it? And why? There’s an image of houses I’ve seen where people open their garage, drive into it, and never reappear. It’s like the garage ate them up! Then, in the morning it spits them out when they reappear to go to work. What goes on behind the doors is private. Who gets to see it are a few invited guests. That’s the way many people live today – private lives witnessed by only a few who are granted admittance.
Then there’s God’s house. God says, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” (Isaiah 56:7) God freely admits anyone and everyone from wherever they might come from into His house – foreigners, outcasts, anyone. All are invited to come into His house to witness what goes on inside. And what goes on inside? Prayer in the form of worship – the joyful hearing and digesting of His Word, willingly giving back offerings from what He’s already given, the acceptance of all who enter His doors. God desires for His house, His church on earth, to be a place where everyone from everywhere can come worship Him.
And we worship Him, not in a building, but wherever we find ourselves in His creation. It’s here that God works through us to “gather yet others to Him besides those already gathered.” (Isaiah 56:8) He calls us, the ones already gathered, to be His means to “joyfully proclaim His word and enthusiastically share His love” with others … including those who aren’t in His house yet. We respond to God’s love for us by loving God – to be certain – but also by loving others as ourselves. (Matthew 22:37-39) Including those who’ve been cast out by society at large. Let’s all make God’s house, His church on earth, a true house of prayer for all peoples by inviting them in and showing them what truly goes on in here.
Your Brother in Christ,
Pastor Jim