God and BLING!

Couldn't help but think how much God likes His BLING when I read Exodus 25. READ IT!! Notice how much He likes fine wood, rare jewels, and gold. Holy cow, the gold!!! OK, so God's probably not walking around with a diamond encrusted spinning clock hanging around his neck, or a ring with "G-O-D" on it covering all four fingers on one of His hands. And I'll bet He doesn't have the latest 24s spinning on the royal chariot - as far as we know anyway.

I don't think He likes them so He can show them off. I think He likes them because of what they represent. Take the gold, for instance - it's cool and shiny and has a lot of WOW! factor, but it's also the purest metal we know of. I think the gold represents purity. What does that for me and you?

1) It represents God's purity. God, who is holy - pure, without blemish, is the kind of god I want. I don't want a god who can, for a minute, mess up. . .sin. . .well to be blunt, be like me. I want a god who is above that, above me - a god who stands so far above me that there is no chance He will ever mess up and come to my level. I want a god who is Holy - pure - like gold.

2) It also represents the purity of my heart when I meet Jesus and accept Him as my Lord & Savior. I can't come before a Holy - a pure, whithout blemish - God if I'm not made pure. . .made holy. So. . .through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ I am made pure. So pure, in fact, that I can not only come into Holy God's presence, but I am able to have a personal relationship with Him.

3) It also represents the purity of heart I should ("must" may be too strong a word - don't know) have when I come to worship Him, to hear from Him. The really cool thing is that I don't have to go to the tent of meeting to meet with God. I do get the honor of meeting together with other believers to worship my Lord, but I can also walk around my backyard, sit on my patio, hang in the living room, walk along the beach, drive my car or ride my Harley and still worship my King. Is that not the coolest thing? I can worship, praise, honor, and bring a "sacrifice" of praise before Him anytime and almost anyplace (I know for a fact that there are some places for me that wouldn't be conducive to personal worship, for me anyway).

It doesn't really matter where I worship God, what does matter is the purity of my heart when I come before Him.

So. . .I become God's BLING! through Christ Jesus and I get to praise Him with a BLING! of a heart. That is some kind of amazing, eh?

Hey Valley Experiencers!!! Don't get caught up in the depths of despair the valley can and does bring into our lives. YOU can be God's BLING! You can, and are, made pure through Jesus Christ. And guess what? He would rather show you off than any gold bracelet, sparkling rims, or flashy rings.

How cool is that?

Blinging for my Daddy!
Mike