My Temple, God's Dwelling Place

 

My Temple, God’s Dwelling Place by Jenn V.

I Corinthians 6:13b & 15a & 19 (NIV) (13b) Our bodies were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies.  (15a)  Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ?  (19) Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?  You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price.  So you must honor God with your body.

I love Maxine!  So honest in her insight!  Talk about transparency!  But seriously, in my Bible reading for the past few months, the Word has been talking about “the temple” and I always kind of ignored all of that talk until this year, when I started reading The One Year Bible.  I have started wondering if there was a correlation to the Old Testament talking about rebuilding the temple of Israel (where God resided at that time) and our own bodies where the Holy Spirit now resides.  Then I read the above scriptures in 1 Corinthians today and it answered my question.

Do I need to make a conscience decision on taking care of my body “the new temple” like the Israelites were called to do?  They failed often, like I have.  Like in the Old Testament, I work on it then I stop, then I work on it and stop.  Sound familiar?  Yeah, like the whole last 10 years of my life!!!  The Bible does talk about physical training being of value.  1 Timothy 4:8 (NIV) says “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

Whether that be exercising regularly, eating right, reading scripture, praying, going to church, taking vitamins or going to the doctor, we are responsible for the caretaking of our spiritual bodies as well as our physical bodies.  The Israelites cleaned out their temple and took out all the old idols that were left there because of wrong living.  Shouldn’t we be doing that too?  Being careful of what we are putting inside our stomachs and not just in our minds and spirit?

I’m not saying we can’t eat a cookie anymore, but maybe being more purposeful in taking care of ourselves and being more mindful.  Giving in to our fleshly desires all of the time is living in excess, gluttony, greed.  Taking care of our bodies as a temple and God’s dwelling place is a symbol of conquering those pesky desires and rising above.  Exodus 25:8 (NIV) “And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.”      

CHALLENGE:  If you have been neglecting your temple, (like me!) pray about recommitting to rebuild it and ask for God’s favor and strength.  Ask him to bring people into your lives that can mentor and help you.