Challenge Accepted



When God’s people were challenged to give toward the building of the Temple of God, they gave sacrificially. I checked Monex to get the current gold and silver costs to use as a comparison: gold is currently selling for $1583.00 per ounce and silver is selling for $27.27 per ounce. The following items were given for the building of the Temple...

David gave – 110 tons of gold, 260 tons of silver, and various amounts of bronze, iron, wood and precious jewels. The modern cost just for the gold would be $5,572,160,000, the silver would be $226,886,400, and the other items would probably equal more than $10 million dollars.

The people gave – 190 tons 185 pounds of gold, 375 tons of silver, 675 tons of bronze, 3,750 tons of iron, and precious jewels. The modern cost just for the gold would be $9,634,011,360, the silver would be $327,240,000, and the other items would probably equal more than $20 million.

That is a total one-day offering of around $16 billion dollars. And Solomon used every bit of this and more to complete the Temple. The Most Holy place was a room 30’ x 30’ and had gold inlaid walls that would cost over $1 billion today. This Temple was a structure that would make the Taj Mahal look like a cheap toy made in Taiwan.

The Temple was designed and intended to be the living place of the Almighty God here on earth. It was to be a symbol to the pagan people surrounding Israel. They wanted the world to know that they personally knew the one true God. They wanted people to see that God lived with them. This was a Temple built by humans for their God.

But God continues to build Temples in the lives of each and every individual believer. These are living Temple for a Living God.

If God led His people to sacrificially give for the building of a Temple that could not even hold His glory on the day that it was dedicated, think how much more important God considers your life, which is the living Temple of God. What sacrifices have you made lately in order to make God’s Temple more beautiful? Not physically, but spiritually. How does a lost world see God’s Temple through your life? Do you proudly display the Temple of the living God before those who surround you or do you display the superficial façade that you have built around it?

Accept the challenge that has been given to you by God to become a people of “worthy of the calling you have received.” Ephesians 4:1

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