1Kings 8:27-29  "But will God really dwell on earth?  The
heavens, even the highest heavens, can not contrain You.  How much less this temple I have built!  Yet give attention to your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy, O Lord my God.  Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in Your presence this day.  May Your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which You said, "My
Name shall be there," so that You will hear the prayer your servant prays,toward this place.
 
1Corinthians 3:16-17  Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?  If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred and you are God's temple.

(2Corinthians 6:16)
For we are the temple of the living God....

As we enter this new year, we tend to make resolutions to lose weight, break bad habits, etc.  (I have a very poor track record).  We look on this as a clean slate, an opportunity to start over.  

God did that for us when Christ wiped clean the slate of sin in our lives and came to dwell within us.  We became the temple of the Holy God, our Creator and redeemer.  He dwells in our hearts and minds and lives.  He is in every part of our day, even the parts we try to keep separate from Him.  He knows our tears, joys, hopes and dreams.  He has a specific and unique plan for each of us.  He has given us unique talents to fullfill the assignment He is laying out before us a little bit at a time.   

He is asking us to care for and protect the temple that He inhabits.  We can care for His temple emotionally, physically, spiritually by inviting Him into all areas of our lives so that He can cleanse that temple and keep it holy, for He is holy.
 
This is a New Year's resolution that will be one of the toughest, most exciting and challenging you have ever attempted.  But this one will be the one with eternal benefits.  There is no greater joy than when we are walking
the path that leads to the City of Gold, the new Jerusalem, the throne of the living God.

Luke 2:7
         And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.  She wrapped him in cloths and placed Him in the manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
 
At this time of year when we are busy wrapping our gifts and
decorating and entertaining, we tend to put aside the most important gift that we can receive.  We see all the expensive gifts and decorations and busyness but we overlook the simple life-changing gift that is priceless and free. 
 
When Christ came to us, He came as a defenseless infant, born of poor parents in very modest circumstances.  We pay more attention to great fanfare events, celebrity appearances and royal weddings.  We don't take time to make room in our lives for the blessings that come disguised and wrapped in simple cloths.
 
How full is your inn?  Have you filled all your rooms with the
things that break, rust, dent or spoil?  How many of the gifts that you received last year do you remember?  What would it take to refocus your attention on the eternal instead of the temporal?

Rev 3:20  Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

Jesus is standing at your door.  He is knocking.  He is waiting
for you to open your door to Him so that He can come in.  He wants you to make room at your inn so that He can fill you with blessings, satisfy your hunger, and heal your broken places.   Make room in your inn for the Prince of peace, the wonderful counsellor.  He has been patient with us for a very long time.  He is waiting for us to make a place for Him in our hearts and minds and lives.
 
Make this the year that you receive the greatest gift that will
not be forgotten.  This gift is an ongoing gift.  It is new every morning and never loses it's value.  It is free but it is also priceless.  Receive the gift and the Giver.  Spend an eternity celebrating with the One Who loves us enough to come to an inn that has no room.  He knocks and patiently waits for us to open the door.  He loves you.

Psalm 23

We spend time in green pastures.  We rest beside still waters.
We walk the path He leads us on, but still there are times when all the right things we do still don't protect us from making mistakes or falling into sin.  We are made of falllible flesh and God's word warns us that we are still vulnerable to failure.
 
Now is the time we need to seek restoration.  We need to run
not walk into the Lord's presence and seek forgiveness.  we need to honestly confess and repent.  The Lord knows us.  He formed us in our mother's womb.  He knows when we rise up and when we lie down. He knows our thoughts and our ways.  He is faithful and just to forgive us.
 
Isaiah 41-43 and more tells us of his commitment to us.  His
love for us is boundless.  He desires to restore us to a close and intimate relationship with Him.  There are many times that restoration is painful. But the resulting maturity and deeper faith make the trials and struggles well worth the pain.  We can stand as a lighthouse of comfort for those who
are struggling through the same storms we have endured.
 
The Lord tells us in Psalms and Proverbs to not despise the
chastening He brings upon us.  A father who does not love his children doesn't care what happens to them.  A Father such as we have, loves us enough to bring us to restoration.  When we return to Him, He runs to us.  He rejoices over us with singing.  He restores our soul. 
 
We won't always do it right, but the wrongs we do can be the best training ground for becoming a wiser and more effective warrior in the battle that we are waging against the enemy.  James tells us to count it all joy when,we fall into trials, etc.  I am still working on counting it all joy but I am less inclined to condemn myself when I know Who can do the restoration.

Phillipians 2:5-7   Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus; Who being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness. 

Jesus preached from the very beginning to His disciples that they should serve each other with love and compassion.  His example at the last supper should stand before us as a template of our service to Him.  He did not hesitate to don a towel and kneel before even the one who would betray Him. He set aside His ranking as the creator of the universe and knelt to wash dirty smelly feet while the disciples fought over who would be the greatest of them all.  
        
If we take Jesus's life as an example of a servant's heart, we would think less of ourselves and far more of others.  We would be less interested in the best seats, the best clothes and the best treatment for ourselves and offer it to others.  Jesus never asked for special treatment or asked to be
waited on.  He asked only that He would be believed and accepted as our savior.  His desire was and is to expand His kingdom and bring us into a relationship with the triune God of eternity.

Father, restore to us the memory of Your command to serve each other.  Remind us of the great joy we will have when we stand before You and You tell us, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Deuteronomy 4:29   Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below. There is no other.

Hebrews 10:31  It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
  
Read also Deuteronomy 30:11-20

We quickly forget that God is GOD. He is creator, redeemer and judge.  We forget that He is a Holy God and He has set before us a covenant between Himself and us to give us life eternal.  But He does not take this lightly.  He commands respect, honor and reverence.  

Do not put Him in a box.  He will break out and we will not always like the consequences of minimizing Who He really is.  He destroyed nations, brought down great kingdoms and
disciplined Israel to bring them back into reverence for Himself.  He gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we can be forgiven.
 
As we enter into this season of celebrating the birth of our Savior, take time to slow down and return to the true reason we celebrate.  As we shop and cook and rush around and stress ourselves out, remember the Lord desires a relationship with us.  The gifts we buy and give are soon forgotten and the decorating we do will soon be repacked into boxes so we can do it all over again next year.  None of these things lead us into worship or a closer walk with our Lord, but the time we spend talking and praying to Jesus, the
more we will remember again why we celebrate this event long past but eternally life changing.

Father, restore to us a true understanding of Who You are.  Remind us that you delight in us but you will not tolerate for long our lack of respect for You.  Remind us of Your glory.  Create in us a desire to worship You as You desire and deserve.  May our worship be worthy of Who You are.