06/21/2018
Are you enjoying being in the temple of God today? Are the floors sparkling clean, the windows washed, and the altar shiny and bright? Are all the candles lit, and the scent of incense fresh and pleasing? Can you hear chanting, and feel the presence of the Holy Spirit there with you? Well, it sounds like I am talking about a building, but in reality I am alluding to your own body.
“Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.”
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 ESV
When I was in high school I knew a girl who was absolutely beautiful, and she caught my eye the moment I met her. She was witty, smart, and treated me as a friend. It took me well over a year to work up the nerve to ask her out on a date, but finally I had bolstered my nerve enough that I found out where she lived and drove to her house. She invited me in, and as I sat talking to her, and her older sister, it became clear that she had a boyfriend. Although disappointed, I said my goodbyes and left.
A couple of years passed and I was home from college. On a day when I was feeling particularly lonely, I thought of her again, and wondered if she might have broken up with the boy she had been dating... so I drove to her house, and knocked on the door. When the door opened I was greeted by a pale skinny girl with black and sunken eyes, and whose hair and clothing were unkempt. This girl was obviously a drug addict, and her arms were scored with needle marks. So not really knowing what to do, I gathered myself, and asked to see the girl I had come to visit... she immediately became irate, and began to curse me; and told me to get out of there in a string of vile words. Standing there in front of me was the very girl that had once caught my eye with her beauty and charm, and in a couple of short years she had destroyed herself. Friends told me later of her downward spiral, use of heroin, and bad marriage to the guy who had been an addict. I was devastated that this once attractive person who was such a joy to be around had allowed this to happen to herself. She was a short time from death.
This is an extreme example of someone mistreating their body, and yet a real life illustration of how fast we can take this temple of flesh and bone that God has given us and abuse it... we can take our temple and scrawl graffiti all over its walls, stick needles into it, and let it deteriorate to the point where it is unrecognizable. As Christians we are taught different, and told to honor and respect the body that God has provided us to worship in.
Enough.
As I said, this is an extreme example, but the girl in my story didn’t suddenly do this to herself, it took her years, and many small steps. It probably began with a single date with the wrong guy, or a night of frivolity on the town that got out of control, but later seemed harmless enough. Small steps that became larger until one day she looked in the mirror to see someone she didn’t recognize.
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV
Most of us will not become addicted to drugs, but many of us will all treat our body badly in some way. It may be over eating, neglect, too much sugar, not enough water, starvation, or something as simple as biting our nails, but whatever it is, we need to remember that this body was given to us as a temple, and from within it we participate in divine worship. We should make certain to keep it clean and well maintained so that despite the natural effects of the years, we can always find it a holy place in which to meet God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. This is our temple, this is the church that people see, and hear praise flowing from.
“as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.”
Philippians 1:20 ESV
When Jesus comes to our door what will He find? Will He be greeted by the beautiful person inside, or met by a demonic self spewing a tirade of profanity? Then again, maybe we will open the door to reveal an unkempt living space, or a kitchen with nothing in it to offer Him... no Bowl, or water in which we can wash His feet... or He ours.
Taking care of our bodies and preparing them to be the abode of Jesus, isn’t difficult if we just allow what God’s Word teaches us to guide us. Are you taking good care of the temple you have been entrusted with? Do you realize that when you enter the doors of your local church or cathedral that you are doing so from within a very real temple? You are like a ship that sails into a port when you go to church... everything you need for faith, relationship, and to know God are right there in your body. Worship, praise, righteousness, sanctity, contrition, holiness... none of these things comes from church... they all come from within you, and you bring them with you to be shared within the walls of the structure we call church. How do you come? What shape is your temple in?
If your temple is decrepit and falling down are you ready to change that? Are you ready to take that first small step on the road home? Are you willing to ask Jesus, the carpenter, to help you repair the damage you have done? Call out to Him, and He will come to help you repair the temple, and then join you there in worship... He will help you sail back into the harbor of His church.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for this body in which I praise you, and thank you for joining me within it as you abide with me, and me with you. Help me Father to see that it is from here that I come to find you, and this is not only my temple, but the ship that I sail through the turbulent sea of life that surrounds me. Bless my vessel Father. Bless me as I work to maintain it and make it acceptable for you. I might look like a sleek yacht, or a hard working cargo ship, but help me make myself seaworthy Lord, and prepare me to seek you as I sail forth. Open my eyes Holy Father to the fact that all that is needed to be in relationship with you is right here within me. There is nothing else but your presence that need be added... I only need to be repaired, cleaned, perfected, and you will help me as I do these things to glorify you. I praise your name Holy Father, from within my temple, and sing out so that all might hear. You are my God, and I call to you from here within, and seek you all the days of my life... Holy, Holy, Holy, are you the God of my tabernacle, and the Captain if my ship. Come now Holy Spirit, Come even now Lord Jesus.
Rich Forbes