“Excuse the dust, we’re in the midst of renovations”, said my host, seating me down in what seemed more like a building site than a lounge. “There used to be a wall there, but it isolated those in the kitchen from the rest of the family,” he said, before describing, with great satisfaction, what it was like to take a sledgehammer to the wall. “They must really be excited about their vision for this place to put up with this mess”, I thought.
Sometimes in order to build something beautiful a wall needs to be demolished. God is building a Holy Temple, a beautiful bride, the Church, where the walls of hostility have been pulled down (Eph. 14-20; 5:25-26).
God doesn’t use a sledgehammer. Rather, through the cross hostility is put to death and people are reconciled (2:16). The crucified, resurrected Christ, is the cornerstone of this Temple. No wonder the church sometimes resembles a building site. Amongst the rubble of broken lives being renovated, the dust of former hostilities is still settling. When we hold on to God’s vision, though, we start to see, even through the dust, the beautiful dwelling place “in which God lives by his Spirit ( 2:22).”
God Bless,
Sean