All in Body
For most of us our belief in God is based primarily on faith. We have never seen God, but we have felt Him; not so much by His outward physical touch, but through an inward touching, and by a spiritual response to His actions and voice in our lives. For His physical touch we depend on the love we have for one another, and in the hands of man being borrowed to do the will of God. Does your faith bridge your body and spirit?
How do we worship and have faith in the Father and the Son? Do we go about doing the physical things that identify us as religious, and leave the inner, spiritual, things of faith to quietly stagnate? God made us to be both physical and spiritual beings, but didn’t He make the physical first, and then breathe the spirit into it? As we grow in faith is our body fully formed, but our spiritual self lagging behind?
Do we think of our faith in God, and Jesus Christ to be entirely spiritual? Do we continue on in the sins of the flesh even after we have presented ourselves as believers to the Lord? Resisting those things is difficult, and this is why Satan attacks us there so often by finding this weakness in our armor.. Here he finds advantage against our physical body, and breaches the walls of our spirituality.
How do we come into the presence of God? Are we clothed in all of our sin, and wearing shoes that are filthy and covered in the dust of the world? As creatures of both physical and spiritual construction we can’t travel anywhere without both sides of ourselves being present. Only at death is that separation possible. So until then, we must be careful regarding the purity of both our body and our spirit when we come before the Lord.
This morning I contemplate the body of Christ as taken at Communion. This gift that is more than a passing thought, but something which becomes part and parcel of us mentally, spiritually, and yes, physically. When at the Lord’s Table, do you realize how perfect the remembrance of Christ should be to you? This is an act in which our being is joined perfectly with His through His blessing, and by His hand.
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.