I have been reading this book called "My Heart's Desire". The theme of it is "living every moment in the WONDER of worship." This book has been one of my favorites so far. The chapter that I just got done reading was so convicting and refreshing at the same time. God totally wrecked my life of worship towards Him after reading this and i would like to share!
Temple= a structure of holiness, a place of worship
1 Cor. 6:19-20=Do you not know that your body is a TEMPLE of the Holy Spirit, who is IN you, whom you have received from God? (this is my favorite part) YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN; YOU WERE BOUGHT AT A PRICE. THEREFORE HONOR GOD WITH YOUR BODY.
In reading the Corinthians, you must remember that Paul is writing to a kind of church that only worshiped on the Sabbath day. Their worship never seeped over into their daily lives. All kinds of immoral and immature activities were going on among the Corinthians, so Paul writes them in letters addressing this sort of lifestyle.
Paul returns to this idea of the body being the temple of God in-
2 Cor. 6:16= And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will DWELL in them and WALK among them. I will be their God, And they shall be MY people."
There is NO ROOM for anything else BUT God to be first in your life. Our bodies are HIS temple, there is no agreement between anything else. Looking back at 1 Cor. 6:20...He has BOUGHT US for the high price of the blood of Christ, and it's only fitting that we become structures WORTHY of that price.
We will never achieve such worthiness, but we can strive for it by spending time with God, Praying for others(Colossians4:12b), Praying without ceasing (1 Thes.5:16-17), Become a living sacrifice with not just ONE area of life but in EVERY area of life (Romans12:1-2), Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS (Philippians 4:4a) and being steadfast in the labor of the Lord (1 Cor. 15:58) and many more/].
As one can see, our lives must change dramatically and it must be a DAILY sacrifice if we are to achieve such worthiness, Worthy of being the temple of God
There is a lot more that could be said on this topic, but I want everyone to get this point.
2 Cor, 6:16=I will DWELL in (you) and WALK with (you). I will be (your) God, and (you) shall be my people.
Looking back into the Old Testament, the ancient Israelites used tents as temples. That tent (temple) housed the law of God, the ark of the covenant, and it traveled with God's people and was carefully guarded. In that way, the people had a physical symbol for understanding the holy presence of God that traveled with them. According to Ephesians 5:1-5 and 2 Peter 1:13-14, the tent Peter and Paul are talking about is the human body itself, which points to the point that we HOUSE the temple of a LIVING God. We could think of ourselves as a beautiful temple, a place fit for encasing the law of God, a place where all people can come experience Him, which is one essential element of a temple.
Through you people can experience the living God just as the Israelites did in the old temple that they carried around where God and his laws dwelled. Thats the idea of having the Holy Spirit come live within us. We are the temple of God now, thanks to the grace and love of Christ.
We must remember that we house THE LIVING God within us, we are not our own, we were bought and saved with the blood of Christ. Such a high price that was paid. We are now God's temple, Let's show the world that we "have been entrusted with the secret things of God" (1 Cor. 4:1) and can even be found worthy enough to house His presence. Think about it...what an HONOR it is that we house the LIVING God within us...if that doesnt light your fire, then your wood is wet : )
I know this is probably a very simple note, but it really hit home for me and makes sense in my heart, and i pray that it somehow makes sense in yours. Enjoy
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