Temple To Go

Judges 17:1-6, 10-13

"Now there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you, and on which you put a curse, even saying it in my ears—here is the silver with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “ May you be blessed by the LORD, my son!” So when he had returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, “I had wholly dedicated the silver from my hand to the LORD for my son, to make a carved image and a molded image; now therefore, I will return it to you.” Thus he returned the silver to his mother. Then his mother took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to the silversmith, and he made it into a carved image and a molded image; and they were in the house of Micah. The man Micah had a shrine, and made an ephod and household idols; and he consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes...Micah said to [the young Levite who came to his house] “Dwell with me, and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance.” So the Levite went in.

Then the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man became like one of his sons to him. So Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and lived in the house of Micah. Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since I have a Levite as priest!”

It seems more like a "your own personal Jesus" type of thing. It is insidiously amusing in a way, that the 'wrongest' stuff can come out of our best intentions. Indeed the road to hell is paved with good intentions, we end up justifying what we do "for the glory of God", when in fact it is arm-twisting on our part. Much more incredible is the subtle difference in Micah's bringing the temple home ('Religiosity to go' or 'DIY spirituality') compared to the Christian doctrine of God with us. Make no mistake that though our body, through Christ, is the temple of the Lord, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and that we are now that Royal Priesthood, in the context of the Law in Micah's time, all other kinds of sacrifice is never enough atonement compared to Christ's ultimate sacrifice that enabled us that indwelling of God and to bring the temple home within our hearts. But there is this cultural perversion in which "everyone did as they saw fit" (moral relativism). And yet it is true today, culture can and very often leave twisted and perverted ideas in our minds. The history/tradition of Christianity itself is marred with cultural influence contrary to biblical principles and therefore we always have to take a step back to look if it is creeping up into our Christian living. Best of all to pray for an extra bonus of discernment and sound judgment in evaluating what we choose to have influence on us.

Romans 12:2

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

~12.10.2013