Today's encouragement comes from 2 Chronicles 29:5b, where we read these words:
" . . . Sanctify the house of the LORD God of your fathers, and carry out the rubbish from the holy place."Chapter 29 of 2 Chronicles gives us in the faithful church a good model for the restoration of the world, following years of apostasy and sin. The doors of the church are to be repaired and opened first; then, the ministers are gather-ed and consecrated to the Lord; and finally, the people come, contribute, and worship (according to God's own design).
But one of the first necessities is the carrying out of the "rubbish from the holy place," (see above). We have the privilege and responsibility of thoroughly ridding the church and her worship of all the man-made clutter that has de-prived the God of heaven of His rightful due, and sinners of a clear view of Jesus. But before we can take the garbage out of the sanctuary, we must be cleansed in our own hearts, through faith in the purifying blood of Christ.
[Puritan quote of the day: "Tell me, saints, is it not a more sweet, comfortable, and delightful thing to look more upon one another's graces than upon one another's infirmities?” —Thomas Brooks, in, "United we Stand"]
