August 10 - Ephesians 2:19-22

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Paul assures the Ephesians that they are part of the community of Christ, even if they find themselves persecuted by Jews living among them. What a new way to look at life for them and this new life is available to us as well.

While the Jews looked to Jerusalem for their temple, Paul spoke to the church in Ephesus, telling them that the temple is about people.  The foundation was built by the apostles and the prophets of the Old Testament.  Jesus Christ, as the cornerstone was the point from which the temple was created.  Everything comes together in him and Paul says that it rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

We are part of that holy temple. Our connecting point to everyone else is Jesus Christ. He is the cornerstone that directs the design of the structure.

Read that final sentence. “In him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”

We aren't being built individually as a dwelling for God to live, but we are being built together. Whether it is as a member of an organized church or the Church universal, we are a unit. We are never alone. The temple that continues to be built as a holy temple of the Lord is one in which we find ourselves part of a community that spans the entirety of earth.

We are being built together to become a dwelling for God.