My husband took a perfect shot of Castle Lake while we were on vacation this year. It speaks of God’s temple: reverent, awe inspiring ruggedness and pristine beauty. Although the lake has been one of the most studied water bodies in U. S. history, I see it as a temple. It’s a place where I hear from God. As Christians, we decide each day to either rob temples (refuse to give glory to God) or to honor God. When David desired to build God a temple, God gently but firmly told him no. Instead, David’s lineage would be built by God and David’s son, Solomon, would build God’s temple. This passage in Romans is directed toward the outwardly religious person who has a hard time admitting honestly to God what is truly going on inside. Are we like David with a need to build God a temple in order to help us feel more holy (rid our hands of sin by our own good works). Or are we able to accept the fact that our hearts need inner change from the pure hands of Jesus Christ our Lord. Your kindness, Lord, leads us to a true change of heart about our sin. – Teresa 

Romans 2: 17-24 (NASB)
‘But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely [p]upon the Law and boast in God, 18 and know His will and [q]approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, 19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 a [r]corrector of the foolish, a teacher of [s]the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, 21 you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who [t]preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? 22 You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast [u]in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? 24 For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.’