I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.—Psalm 138: 2.
For Christians, God’s temple is one of two related things: either the Christian’s physical body (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) or the group of people who make up his Church gathered together (1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Peter 2:4-5). Because of the flaws in the people who make up our churches, many are overly critical of our bouts with hypocrisy and weakness. The problem with most churches is that they are made up of people like the one we see in the mirror each day. Despite our flaws and failures as God’s people, his Church is precious to him. We should also value the Church, the temple of God, as precious. Anyone who destroys the Lord‘s Church, the Lord‘s temple, through division will be utterly destroyed (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). God has demonstrated his faithfulness to his people by preserving the Church through the ravages and persecutions of history and by sustaining it through the failures of some of its most significant leaders. He has done this by his patience with the flawed people in his Church. God is still the center of the Church, the place where he chooses to dwell. So, dear friend in Jesus, we must value the Church, our congregations, and the people that we share faith with as we obey the word and will of God and as we praise God and exalt him for his love, grace, and faithfulness.