Father, I just have to give You praise for the work You have been doing in a brother’s life. You touched him in a mighty way and it literally has set him on fire spiritually! It has given him a relationship with You that any true believer would long for. He is boldly proclaiming Your touch on his life, touching other people’s lives with great enthusiasm. Bless him, Father, and may those he interacts with be impacted for eternity! Amen!
Mark 13:1-2 (<<click to read the passage)
One popular current form of entertainment is home improvement shows. I remember when Extreme Makeover: Home Edition hit the air back in 2003 and was so well received. Now different networks air all kinds of them. This comes to mind as I read the notes on today’s passage in my study Bible in regards to the Temple which stood in Jerusalem.
As they were leaving the city for the day, one of the disciples said to Jesus, “Teacher, look at these magnificent buildings! Look at the impressive stones in the walls.”
I really hadn’t put two and two together but the Temple standing in Jerusalem that day was the same one that “had stood for nearly 500 years since the days of Ezra”! Fifteen years before Jesus was born (20 B.C.) Herod the Great began to give the Temple an extreme makeover. He made it “one of the most beautiful buildings in Jerusalem, not to honor God, but to appease the Jews whom he ruled.” *
But though it had stood for almost five centuries it was only temporal. Dictionary.com defines temporal as enduring for a time only; temporary; transitory (opposed to eternal).
It must have been one more shocking thing for the disciples to process. It had stood there seemingly forever! And now Jesus said, “Yes, look at these great buildings. But they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another!”
And amazingly enough, though it “was completed in A.D. 64 by Herod Agrippa II” it was nothing but a pile of rubble six years later at the hand of the “Roman general Titus and his army.” *
What do we count on as being around forever? We build our lives on all kinds of things…family, jobs, investments, relationships. But time claims it all. Regardless of what we put our energies and efforts into, it will all be to no avail. Some things may pass before we do but inevitably, we will pass as well. The things of this earth will only endure for a time. They are temporary. They are transitory as opposed to eternal.
Matthew 6:19-21 tells us,
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”
Lord Jesus, help us to put our time and energies into that which will outlast the temporal nature of this world and ourselves…for our earthly bodies are temporal as well. May we focus on You and learn where our best investments can be made. May we store our treasures in heaven. Amen.
July 15th, 2019, Mon, 9:04 pm
*Life Application Bible New Living Translation
*Amplified Bible notes on Mark 13:2
