David wanted to build me a temple, but I chose Solomon for this task. Do you think these are the only two people who considered this question? I posed a rhetorical question that if I inhabited the heavens, how would you build me a house? Do you think that you build churches for me? I don’t need a roof over my head, or walls, or a place to sit. The church building is for your comfort and convenience as a place to meet. You know that the church is not a building, but a body of people united for the common purpose of seeking me. If you come together for this purpose I will come and be present among you wherever you meet. 

Do you think that prejudice is undesirable, and strive to be free of it? Yet if you abstain from certain practices commonly considered as bad habits, do you find it easier to be judgmental toward those who practice them? In so doing you make a distinction between yourself and others, and create a separation. You may think that you are honoring me in the practices you choose and  the practices you abstain from and you may be right. You can also honor me by accepting your brother who makes a different selection of what to do and what to avoid. Love one another and let every man answer to his own master. 

I invited those who were weary and burdened to come to me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. You also know that you are saved by grace rather than works, so your effort is not a part of the equation of your salvation. If you accept these things as true do you assume that you will just slide through your life as a believer? Nothing could be more wrong. If you answer my invitation to fulfill my high calling for your life it will be the most difficult thing you will ever do. It will take everything you have and even with your maximum effort it will still take a lifetime to complete. Yet the further you go down this path the more you will realize that it is me and not you, and so those statements about salvation by grace and an easy yoke are still true. 

I tell you to love your enemies and pray for  them. Does this imply that you need to keep a list of them so that you can pray for them consistently? Prayer lists can be effective reminders but this approach is prone to problems.  Can you keep track of your enemies with gracious intent to love  them rather than to review the reasons why there is an offense between you and why you are right? If you approach this task properly it will give you life. Your prayer of love and blessing for those who have hurt you is a blessing to you, for it releases you from the power of your past to hinder your present and future.