Ephesians 2:21-22
"…in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit."
Through faith in Jesus Christ, believers are made into the church, a living house which is God's dwelling place. No longer does God live in temples made with human hands, but in the hearts and souls of those who believe in Christ. With the Spirit's indwelling, we're being assembled into a holy temple unto our Lord.
Of course, our earthly temples were never sufficient to hold our Lord's glory, and certainly are not the churches we build to our Lord today. The church has never been about the building, but the people who gather together.
In our family, we've always called the place of worship the church-house. My parents understood that the building where we met was not the church, and we passed on this same knowledge to our kids. By calling the church a house, they taught us that the building was only the place where the church sometimes met.
When our church congregation met outside in the field for a sunrise service, we were still the church. When we assembled at the lake for a celebration, we where the church. When we met the park for a picnic, we were likewise the church.
The people of God have always been the church, and it is the Spirit which gives us our identity in Christ. The Spirit hasn't entered into a building program to assemble bricks and mortar as a memorial to the Lord, but instead makes the church out of the hearts of God's people. So wherever we meet, we are the church.
LORD JESUS
Lord, I thank you for the Spirit's presence to make me a part of your church. May I always love the people you indwell with your Spirit as part of the body in which you have gathered us to be. Amen.
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