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Join us each Saturday for our weekly gathering.

Sabbath School: 9:45 – 10:45 am

Church Service: 11:00 am

Lead Pastor Simon Liversidge 805.498.2300

Reflection

“So all the work on the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, was completed. The Israelites did everything just as the Lord commanded them.” Exodus 39:32

Kenna Lee and I have been reading through the Bible, just to get the “big picture” again. As I was reading Exodus I must admit I was getting a little bored with all the details in chapters 25-30 regarding the building of the sanctuary. It ended with the hiring of Bezalel and Oholiah, not common household names, who were tasked with overseeing the work of building this “house for God.” And then Moses chose to REPEAT the whole set of instructions again in chapters 36-39, as he described the work of these two craftsmen and their helpers. The only interesting thing I found in the whole retelling of details was the “fact” that they used just over a ton of gold and 3 ¾ tons of silver in the construction!! AND it was all donated by the people before they started the project. That was a nice ah-ha reminder that maybe all of us could learn something from - don’t go into debt to build God’s houses! Start when the money is in hand!

But I had an even greater ah-ha than that. It was my text today and what I had written sometime before in the margin of my Bible. The two sections of Exodus are the same!! Maybe not a big deal except when I found this text - “The Israelites did EVERYTHING just as the Lord commanded Moses.” They messed a lot of other things up but this one they got right! They did EXACTLY as God asked them to do, down to the very details of the rings that held the curtains.

And this is what I wrote in my Bible margin - “The requirement was 100% compliance. And the ongoing construction of my life as God’s temple demands no less care than the building of Israel’s temple. If I want my life to radiate His glory, like the sanctuary in the desert did, and bear witness of His presence and His name to the community around me then it can’t be, ‘Love the Lord your God with most of your heart, a portion of your soul, and a tithe of your mind.'”

This is NOT about salvation; this is about evidence on this earth that I am making God more than a convenient option in life. I don’t get to pick and choose what I like and want. I don’t understand it all, but what am I doing with the parts I DO understand? Thank you Jesus that even in the “boring” parts of Your word you still have insights for life. Help me to love you with ALL my heart, ALL my soul, and ALL my mind.

Have a great day discovering 100% commitment as the goal,

Quote for the day: “The headband of the high priest said, ‘Holy to the Lord.' I wonder what would happen if I changed two words and made it my prayer, 'Wholly for the Lord.’”