1 Corinthians 3:16-17
“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.”
Let me share that it is great to be a young 74 years old and still ignorant in so many areas of life. As I face-up to ignorance in my life it brings about choices, learning or staying ignorant on that subject matter. It amazes me about how many people believe they understand the Scriptures because at one time they read some of the Bible, or went to church, or had a dad who was a preacher. I’ve been reading a book entitled, Jesus >Religion by Jefferson Bethke, Jeff was 23 years of age when he penned this book. On page 157 he is talking about in Genesis how only three times the phrase “image of God” is found and God is referring to humans. And I quote; “We are the only ones created in his image, which means we bear some form of God’s nature and reflection in us and on us. The fact that we can create is a sign we are created in his image. No other creatures have the ability to create. Sure some animals can build and work, but they can’t create. They can’t make something out of nothing.” Now let me skip to this sentence; “Only humans are uniquely wired to create.”
I did say Jeff is 23, and I’m 74, but I had never given thought to this thought, so now I’m a little less ignorant in one new area, God has wired you and me to create.
As we look into 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, it is important to understand that God states, humans come in only two forms, a Spiritual person, and a natural person. The above Scripture is referring to a Spiritual person, but let’s first see what God has said about the natural person. “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (1Corinthians 2:14)
So as a spiritual person, one who has received grace and entered into Christ by faith and He has entered into you, that is to whom this is being addressed. My second question I ask in writing this was; do I have a good understanding of being God’s temple, where God’s Spirit dwells? I found this helpful; “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 6:15) Now skipping down to verse 17, “But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.” Let’s let God’s Word put the finishing touch on this by looking at verses 19-20, “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.”
So when the umpire calling my grandson’s baseball games, blows the calls, or some person cuts me off in traffic, or someone is rude to my wife, or someone makes little of my beliefs, God is still living in me, but does it show? But how, yes that is the last question, how can you and I live in this upside down world so that the world sees Jesus in us? I believe I’ve found the answer; in Romans 12:1-3, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”
The short list above is a few of my battles with my flesh, yours may be very different, but it’s still going to require allowing the Spirit of God to be in charge of our temple. So it once more comes down to choice!
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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