Deuteronomy 12:1-7 English Standard Version

The Lord’s Chosen Place of Worship

12 “These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. ² You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. ³ You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place. ⁴ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. ⁵ But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go, ⁶ and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. ⁷ And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

Here is God’s instruction to His people about defacing the worship of false gods.

The enemies of Christ return the favor and do the same to us. Think about that for a moment.

John 10:10 English Standard Version (ESV) The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

We can think of many things in this world where the enemies of Christ are defacing what we have built up in the name of Christ. I do not have to go through that list as we are aware of what the enemy is doing. This is not a political platform, it is a spiritual one.

2 Timothy 1:13-14 English Standard Version

¹³ Follow the pattern of the sound^[healthy] words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴ By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

Yesterday I declared that I did not see pattern at first glance. In preparing that devotional at third glance I now see deposit. This happens often enough in scriptures that it is worthy of noting. It is not unlike walking from your car to a store to glance down and find a coin. It is entirely up to you to pick it up or to leave it lay. So in my journey from the car I picked up a dime and on my return I discover a quarter.

Which has the greater value, pattern or deposit? We shall allow the Lord to decide.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 English Standard Version

²¹ And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, ²² and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.^[a]

Footnote ^[a] Or down payment

Down payments are deposited therefor our good deposit is the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is God in the third person, how can we guard God?

The first thing that comes to my mind is not to proclaim that our thoughts and words are given to us by the Holy Spirit when they are not. That is bearing false witness. That is not all that much different than saying the devil made me do it when it is our bad choices that are at fault.

I am sure there are other ways to discover how to guard the presence of the Holy Spirit in us if we think about it. Maybe refraining from sin might be a strong candidate in such matters. When our sins are discovered it calls in to question our faithfulness to God.

If you pick it up, own it.