When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy. Psalm 122:1 (MSG)

When I read Psalm 122, my mind has to stretch a bit. In David's case, "Let's go to the house of God" referred to the journey people made to the temple in Jerusalem. Many people made pilgrimages to Jerusalem. It was the center of worship. For most of us, we read "Let's go to the house of God" and think of our weekly trek to church on Sunday. Different time, different location, but the same principle. We still tend to think of church as a place we go to pay God a visit, and a place where He resides inside a safe little boundary that I can slip into and out of at my whim.

And yet, between David and us there is a HUGE paradigm shift. Before Jesus, the temple in Jerusalem was the place on Earth where God's glory was chosen to reside. After Jesus' resurrection, the Holy Spirit was poured out into the lives of every believer. We no longer go to the Temple, we ARE the temple! Today, when we say "Let's go to the house of God," we are saying "Let's visit the God who is in me," and for that we don't need to travel. For that, we need no passport or entry visa. For that, there is no journey required save our faith journey.

How cool to experience my heart leaping for joy with every remembrance and realization that the God of the universe resides in me and I in Him.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and jakevol2