eShape of the Christian Life 34: Temple of the Holy Spirit
"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? You are not your own; so glorify God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Look at your body, your self in the mirror. The world says you are a consumer, that your body is to be sculpted, or protected, it is something you use to have fun or to get ahead, that how you look, your presentation is everything. But if the world dictates how I see myself, I become superficial, self-indulgent, vapid. Thankfully, God whispers the truth about the body, the self that I see: your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.
What is a temple? A structure that exists for God, and really for no other purpose. A place of silent waiting. A place where truth is spoken, and songs are sung. A place to be deadly serious, and therefore to be giddily joyful. A place where offerings are made to God. A place where heads are bowed, where frivolous stupidity is frowned upon. A place where the unloveliest are welcomed, for the doors are open, and even if God seems to be no place else, God is there, and when you exit you wish you could linger, and you let that craving to linger manifest itself in service and holiness outside the building. A temple is a permanent ark of the covenant, bearing God's word and presence. A temple is a manger, and swaddled inside is Jesus.
So God made me to be all these things? Am I such a place? Isn't my life revolutionized, liberated, enlightened if I stop looking at myself as the owner of my self? Isn't the hidden secret exposed and shouted out loud when I look at my self, at my body as owned entirely by God, and that I exist to glorify God in my body? Do I glorify God in my body? by where I take it? by what I put into it? by how I use it? by how I care for it? by what it bumps up against? or by what it refrains from bumping up against? Am I a manger, humble, nothing fancy, but mysteriously holding up Jesus for those who look closely beneath the folds of who I am?
But a temple (or for that matter, any other structure, any building, any body) can feel empty, just a hollow place, nothing really going on there, nobody home at this address. Paul says "Do you not know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?" In our next email we will try to fathom how we who are temples are potentially filled with the Holy Spirit.
James
james@mpumc.org
