Read 2 Chronicles 2-3 and Nahum 1.
This devotional is about 2 Chronicles 2.
David, his father, commanded Solomon to build a temple for the Lord and, here in 2 Chronicles 2, Solomon went to work on it. What stands out in this passage is Solomon’s desire that the temple be excellent. In his message to Hiram king of Tyre Solomon wrote, “The temple I am going to build will be great, because our God is greater than all other gods” (v. 5). Because greatness was the goal, Solomon asked for “a man skilled to work in gold and silver…” (v. 7).
The contemporary application of this passage is not that a church building must be extravagant. The building is not the church and the early church met in homes and, later, tombs but still managed to glorify and worship God. God doesn’t require luxury accommodations from us; what he wants is our love.
But when someone loves God, they want to give God their best. That may dictate decisions about how a building is designed and built. If a church has the means to build a magnificent church building and doesn’t have to go deeply into debt to do it, then a magnificent church building might be a fitting expression of that church’s love for God.
The contemporary application of this passage is to serve God with excellence. When you prepare to teach, give the best effort you can to studying and developing the lesson. When you serve in any other way, don’t show up late and wing it; if you love God, serve him with the very best effort and ability you have.
Are you giving your best effort to serving the Lord with excellence? What area(s) of your ministry need the kind of disciplined effort and high standards of excellence that Solomon demonstrated in this chapter?