Bring Others Into the Sanctuary this Christmas

God and I have several special places we like to share but it was clear that I wasn’t going to be experiencing any of them that particular morning. The house was bursting with big people aplenty and five grands under five. Translated that means no private time with God on the dock, no rocking chair solitude on the patio, and no swinging with Jesus on the back porch.

I missed Him.

I told Him so as I stood at the sink washing dishes. Almost immediately I thought of something I’d been studying. Obsessing over would be more accurate. It’s what I do when something in God’s word grabs me and won’t let go. I’m like a dog with a bone and right now, my favorite treat is Sanctuary. The topic’s bigger than I know what to do with but I’m having fun feasting on the truth that as a believer, I am God’s sanctuary on earth. I am His dwelling place.

It’s not a new doctrine but it’s infinitely bigger than I’ve ever imagined. I’m thinking it may account for that trace of holy desperation I hear in the passionate words of the Apostle Paul as he implored the early Christians to grasp the enormity of their new life in Christ. “Do you not know,” Paul said, “that your body is the temple of God?”  Indeed, our body as His sanctuary isn’t a new idea, but here’s what is novel to me these days, (and staggering). God is challenging me to live bringing other people into this precious sanctuary of ours by consciously beholding Him while I’m visiting with them.

Somehow in ways I don’t fully understand, while I’m privately beholding Jesus in the secret dwelling place, His spirit is wooing those around me whether I’m asking the men about their morning hunt, cooking dinner with the girls, or playing memory game with the grands.

It’s going to be a busy Christmas season. Don’t starve your soul for lack of time with God when you can bring those around you right into the sanctuary by consciously beholding Him all through the day.

Hugs, Shellie