Chosen Grace

Hello everyone and Happy April! We have made it to the 4th month of this year. Rejoice in that! Now, happy reading!

This past Sunday, Christians all over the world celebrated Easter. While the commercials constantly push chocolate covered eggs and pastel colors our way, the Christian takes this time to celebrate and honor the resurrection of our Lord and Savior- Jesus Christ.

Easter is my favorite holiday and as I get older, I appreciate the Jesus’ work on the cross much more. So, this year was no different. The Friday before Resurrection Sunday, I got a call from a leader at my church. She asked me to greet people at the door as they walked into our service.

I immediately said yes, as I love serving. After hanging up the phone I went about my day. As I did, this exact thought came into my head: “I get to be a door keeper. But no one will see me in service. I guess it’s not that special to watch the door.”

Immediately, the Holy Spirit convicted me of my thoughts and reminded me of this Scripture that I had been studying all that week:

“Better is one day in your courts
    than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
    than dwell in the tents of the wicked.”

– Psalm 84:10, ESV

This particular psalm was written by the Sons of Korah, descendents of the Levite people. In Biblical times, the Levites were the ones whom God had chosen to be priests of the nation of Israel. They were to atone for the sins of the Israelites’ and were in charge of The Lord’s temple. Only they were permitted inside of the temple, where the Ark of the Covenant resided. In summary- it was literally the Levites job to care for the temple.

I’m sharing this history with you so that you can get a better understanding of where we are going. You see, the Sons of Korah had a lineage of serving and so when they wrote this porton on Psalm 84 quotes above- they were fully confident in saying that they would rather be a door keeper. Now, the doorkeepers were Levites, but their task was very specific.

According to Smith (2012) from Christianlibrary.org, the doorkeepers were stationed at the very entrance to God’s temple. Their task was deemed as one of the least important ones as they stood all day and night, for hours on end to make sure that the gifts and tithes bought from the Israelites people were received and the storerooms and treasuries properly taken care of.

As I read this information and paired it back to the Scripture above, the Lord began to reveal to me how being a doorkeeper may seem unimportant, but in our world today- we should all strive to take this lowly position.

You see, the world around us makes us feel that we need to be in the most important position in order to be recognized. If we look at others lives on social media it can seem as if what we have going on isn’t worth as much.

On top of that, we are surrounded by a celebrity culture that idolizes people and material things. Personally, I used to be so consumed with just having to know about this celebrity or that one. And in doing that, I felt like their rich, lavish, and seemingly problem-free lifestyles were way better than my own.

I’ll admit, this has even affected me on a “regular” level. I sometimes struggle when I see people my age seemingly breezing through life: going on fancy trips, getting married, and embracing all the other great things that life has to offer.

I know that I’m not the only one who’s felt this way before. Maybe you reading this have compared your life to another’s in real life or on social media. Maybe you feel that being “a door keeper” in your life is boring and just is not fulfilling.

However- this mindset is toxic. You see, the Bible says that God has given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). If we compare ourselves- we loose sight of what being a doorkeeper actually means: fulfilment in the presence of God.

The Sons of Korah had declared that being with God in a low position was way better than being with evil in a high position.

What this means for us is that being with God (even when it seems our lives are boring) is WAY better than embracing the riches and fame that could possibly come with embracing evil.

Now, let me make it clear that God does desire for His people to prosper and be fruitful. Deuteronomy 28 outlines all the blessings of God’s people- if they follow His command. Psalm 37:25 says that the righteous have never been forsaken or His children begging for bread. God will make His people prosper.

Notice that God while Scripture does back up God wanting us to be successful- it only does so in a way that is honorable and pleasing to God. This excludes anything evil. In essence, prosperity is for the Christian as long as God is at the center of all things.

How does this tie back to being a doorkeeper? Well, the doorkeepers were in charge of what belonged to God. They took care of God’s holy temple and in return- God took care of them. This could not ( and still can’t) happen for wicked people. Psalm 37 says that the Lord laughs at the wicked and sees that their day is coming (v.13). Because God is good and holy, He will not dwell with any evil period. So for any of us to dwell in the tents with wickedness would devoid us of God’s presence.

And as my Grandma says, “That ain’t no business.”

So, let’s all embrace being the door keeper. There we can embrace God’s presence and do what He has called each of us to do: serve.

With a new joy for doorkeeper,

Malaysia 🙂

P.S: I did enjoy greeting people as they entered service on Sunday! It was a joy to see everyone’s big smiles as we call decided to honor and praise together.