Sanctuary

Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary,

Pure and holy, tried and true.

With thanksgiving I'll be a living

Sanctuary for You.

A very simple song with more meaning than we may want to think about while singing it.  Sanctuary defined is a place of holiness and refuge.  Holiness is to be separate and different from the world in a most positive manner, though it may not always feel positive. 
It is difficult, to say the least, to be different than others.  We all want to fit in somewhere - anywhere.  Some try to deliberately make themselves different than everyone else so that all the people as different as they will accept them.

Christians, those who have truly accepted God's free gift of salvation through Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection from the dead and truly love Him - (If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you WILL be saved.  Romans 10:9) - are to be a sanctuary to the world.

sanc·tu·ar·y

[sangk-choo-er-ee] Show IPA

noun, plural sanc·tu·ar·ies.

1. a sacred or holy place.

2. Judaism.

a. the Biblical tabernacle or the Temple in Jerusalem.

b. the holy of holies of these places of worship.

3. an especially holy place in a temple or church.

4. the part of a church around the altar; the chancel.

5. a church or other sacred place where fugitives were formerly entitled to immunity from arrest.

Notice numbers three through five of the definition.  A building is not the church - it is simply a building that houses the church - the Christian is to be a holy place of refuge for the world to be allowed to run to to escape judgment.  Are we truly that people?  Are people drawn to us?  Do they want to hear what we have to say, experience our life experiences through our message of hope, or do they look at us with nothing but disdain, because we say one thing, but live otherwise?

I have recently learned a lot about my personal prayer life.  I think the most important thing learned is that life is not certain, nor are we promised that it will be perfect and lovely until after Jesus' return.

Therefore, if I truly want to be a sanctuary, as I am commanded to be, then I need to pray about my response to life and its affect on me.

As I lay in my bed thinking on this, the faces of my birth mom and the woman who became my mom through marriage popped into my head.  I thought of how they had faithfully served the Lord, yet their bodies are laden with arthritis, heart problems, fibromyalgia, diabetes, skin disease and more.  They continue serving Him anyway, the best they are able.

I closed my eyes, sighed, and prayed, "Lord, I do not know what the future holds for this body.  I could end up in a wheelchair, or worse - unable to get out of bed and have to be completely taken care of by someone else.  I could end up unable to talk, or even to express myself.  I could lose the ability to think clearly.  But Lord, whatever and however You choose to use me while in this body, I want to be pleasing in Your sight.  May all that happens to me honor and glorify You. May I honor and glorify You in all things."

May we all become as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo when they answered Nebuchadnezzar's threat of throwing them in the fiery furnace - "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king.  But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."  Daniel 3:16-18