Psalm 5:7 (NLT) Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house; I will worship at your Temple with deepest awe.

I grew up in a home where my mom and dad disciplined me, and I am not talking about getting a time-out. I would have totally appreciated a time-out whenever I did something wrong and had to be corrected. But I didn't get a time out. I got knock-out! My dad would discipline me with his belt and I can still remember the sting of that belt against my legs when I did something wrong. I must say that looking back, I needed that correction. My mom and dad were old-school so they would be angry as they were disciplining me so I didn't even get the "this is going to hurt me more than it does you" speech. It definitely hurt me more than it hurt them...or so I thought. But the thing about that time that I remember the most was that after being disciplined, I could still come into their presence and they would receive me with open arms and a lot of love.

As followers of Christ, we all have one thing very much in common, and it's that we have all committed many sins against God and against His commandments. There are many things that we have done that we are ashamed of and that are hidden in the proverbial "skeleton closet". Add to that the fact that the One whose "house" we enter into is Almighty God, who is three times holy (holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty - Revelation 4:8), and it heightens the stakes in attempting to enter into His Holy presence. God’s extreme holiness is wrapped around the mystery of His omnipotence and causes us to gaze in wonder at Him as we begin to get a little glimpse of His majesty. It is His house that we attempt to enter into and the amazing truth is that He allows us to go right on in. His arms are opened wide and His love is ready to be poured out on us as He welcomes us into His presence and it's all because of His endless and unfathomable love for us. That love was on full display as Jesus, God in the flesh, hung on a man-made cross while receiving the hate and the vitriol of the very people He was dying for. It's because of His amazing and unfailing love that we can dare enter into His holy presence and just like David wrote in the psalm above, it is with deepest awe that we worship Him. Don't ever take going to "the house of the Lord" for granted, because it was with the greatest price, the death of Jesus, that that entry was secured for us. Praise be to our holy, righteous and awe-inspiring King of Glory, Jesus!

Pastor Joey Vazquez