In the Book of Ephesians Paul writes, “So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. We are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We who believe are carefully joined together, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also joined together as part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:19-22 NLT emphasis added)
Then a few verses later he writes, “Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come fearlessly into God’s presence, assured of his glad welcome.” (Ephesians 3:12 NLT emphasis added)
As I read those verses I thought, “God is not only building us into his home, but he has on top of that given us complete access, open access to spend time in his presence.” That’s a better deal than we can get at the White House! If we go there there are certain places we can’t go. There are certain rooms they have made off limits. We (probably) aren’t going to be invited to stay for dinner nor is President or Mrs. Obama going to be there to greet us. If we asked someone, “Why?” They would likely respond, “They have so much to do. There’s no way they could be here for you.” That’s different than what read about God.
It’s a better deal than we get at our boss’ house! I mean, if we go there he’s not going to want us to put our feet up and really relax. He may say, “Make yourself at home,” but my guess is he’s going to be more than a bit reluctant and nervous when we just go over to the refrigerator and without asking make ourselves something to eat. That’s different than what is described in Ephesians.
It’s a better deal than we can get by watching “Cribs” or even the old “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.” In those experiences they don’t mind showing us what they have. They are excited and proud of their resources, but they only want to share them with us through the safety and security of the big screen. According to Scripture, God wants to get closer than that.
