Maintenance Required

You realize, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalizing God’s temple, you can be sure of that. God’s temple is sacred—and you, remember, are the temple. (I Corinthians 3:16-17 MSG)

You are the temple. Those words indicate more than an 'idea', or an 'image' we can wrap our head around - they indicate a statement of fact. God's presence dwells in his temple - you! What are some of the characteristics of a physical temple? They were places of devotion, dedication, and they facilitated worship of some form. In much the same manner, we are devoted to him, dedicating our time and talents into his service, and become instruments of his worship.

In the time these words were penned, the Temple was a 'sacred' space - there was something unique about what happened 'inside' the temple. A person entered, but they rarely left unchanged. Something happened when there was a connection between the person entering and the holy God who dwelt within the Temple. The life was touched - sometimes both physically and spiritually. There was an 'exchange' that occurred - between God and man.

The sacred dwelling place of God requires some 'respect', does it not? If we are the temple of God, as Paul proclaims to us in this passage, then how do we show the proper 'respect' for the holiness of God that indwells his temple? First of all, we don't treat his presence flippantly. The presence of God is always with us - it never leaves us. We must remember that where his holiness dwells, sin cannot dwell simultaneously. That alone should cause us to consider some of the actions we might be taking 'against' our bodies!

What we put into our bodies matters. What we do with our bodies is important. What we allow to affect our bodies must be monitored and eliminated if it isn't producing good things for our body. The attention we give to our bodies may go a bit overboard on occasion, though. I have observed believers getting all gung-ho about working out because they say they have to maintain the 'temple'. The problem is that they exercise the physical body to extreme all while neglecting the spiritual part of their body.

Maintain the temple, but don't neglect the connection that occurs within the temple. It is the connection that made the temple the place where God's people went in those days - the chance to experience the holiness of God in their lives. We must never forget that God's greatest joy comes from us recognizing his presence, developing that connection in an ongoing and vital manner, and then maintaining a healthy place for his presence to dwell. Just sayin!