Today's Devotional

 

April 15, 2008

                                                                                         

Subject:  Sanctuary For Sin 

Psalm 74:7 "They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground."

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A "Sanctuary City" is defined as a city that gives refuge to illegal immigrants.  The officials of the city of Houston are taking a lot of heat because they are a sanctuary city and when many of the illegal immigrants commit crimes, they are often not treated as criminals and in some cases are given a pass because they are illegals and the officials don't want to have to deal with it.  Creating a sanctuary for wrongdoing is causing major problems in cities like Houston and across the nation.  

Cities give sanctuary to illegals and protect their wrongdoings, but sometimes we do the same in the church.  When I grew up it was obvious that many of the men in the church were effeminate.  I didn't know what homosexuality was until I grew older, but I realized later that this was clearly wrong, yet the churches I attended never mentioned it and often those type of men seemed to flourish in the church.  The church had become a "Sanctuary For Sin."  Some churches allow all types of behavior in their church officials without any accountability.  This is creating sanctuaries for sin.  

Not only do churches sometimes do it, but so do we in our personal lives.  Anytime we know that we are involved in sin and continue in it, we are creating sanctuaries for sin.  God has created each of us to be a holy temple, His sanctuary.  When we defile that temple, we have defiled His sanctuary.

Today check your temple.  Has it become a sanctuary for sin or is it as God intended, a sanctuary for holiness?        

Carlen