Sanctuary

There is a worship chorus that I like very much. It says, "Lord prepare me, to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true. With thanksgiving, I'll be a living sanctuary, for you."

What that means to me is asking God to prepare me - mold me, shape me - into a safe and caring person that is focused on God and is the expression God's love, set apart with a thankful and grateful heart for the special purpose of loving and caring for others.

The apostle Paul defines love for us in I Corinthians 13:4-7, where he tells us, "Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance."

Eugene Peterson, in The Message, expresses it this way: 
"Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always 'me first,'
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end."

Jesus' last words to his followers, before his crucifixion, included these words, "...now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”


We come into contact with many everyday who are in need of sanctuary - a safe place - a caring person. May we be that place - that person, remembering the words in I John 4:8, "...anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love."