1 Kings 6: What is more important?

Verse 12: 

"Regarding this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father."

◇ The temple in Jerusalem has been completed. Solomon, David's son, has finally accomplished the construction of the temple that David had so desired but was not permitted to build. Israel did not build the temple alone. With the help of King Hiram of Tyre, they cooperated with foreigners to complete the temple for God, the King of all peoples, and for all peoples.

For the first time, they had a grand temple. They had housed God in a tent for hundreds of years, but now they had a beautiful temple made of stone and cedar and overlaid with gold. How happy King Solomon and the people must have been! Their joy must have been sky-high and their hearts full to bursting. They would have wanted to boast about it to all the nations of the world.

God then said to Solomon, 

"Regarding this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father." (Verse 12)

God must have been pleased too. He couldn't help but be pleased with the temple that Solomon and the people had built for him with all their heart and soul.

But God valued something more than the temple. That was obedience and compliance with God's will.

Jesus, seeing those who were trading in the beautiful temple, called it a den of robbers. No matter how beautiful and grand the temple, if it is full of those who do not follow God's will, it is nothing more than a den of robbers. But even the most humble tent, if filled with those who follow God's will, is the most beautiful temple of God in the world.

♧ God, let us see the temple (church) with your heart! Don't let us forget what is more important! Holy Spirit, lead us in truth!