God worked through the desert sanctuary to draw Israelites into the divine presence. God worked through the Temple in Jerusalem, both before and after Jesus’ earthly life (cf. Acts 2:46), to draw people into a life-changing relationship. God has used many other buildings throughout history as instruments to build his spiritual temple in human lives. Many of them still stand today as monuments and instruments of God’s mission. God calls each one of us, as a “living stone” in God’s spiritual temple, to help to “speak of the wonderful acts of the one who called you out of darkness into his amazing light.”

• Throughout the sweep of the Bible’s story, we find the paradox that the God of the universe used physical buildings to do his great spiritual work of transforming people into living “temples.” What are the building(s) in which you have most encountered God and had life-changing experiences? How are you taking part in the work of providing sacred spaces in which others can meet the living God, who will shape them into building blocks in his eternal spiritual temple?