Spring cleaning, part III

When we paused yesterday, we had just arrived at an important concept: the temple of God today is found in the hearts and minds of all of us who honor Jesus as Lord and Savior. This was radical and startling to those who'd grown up in the temple traditions..... every year, they went to the temple to sacrifice. They knew the rituals. They knew that only once a year did the high priest actually enter the holy of holies -- and that was so awe-inspiring and so dangerous, that he had a rope tied to his foot and a bell on his robe, too! You may recall that we talked about how the sound of the bell would tell listeners outside that he was still moving inside, doing the duties he needed to accomplish. If they didn't hear the bell for a while, they would assume that somehow he had died -- perhaps he had inadvertently touched the ark of the covenant, and they'd need to pull him out of there.

Consider how shocking it would be to hear that the temple of God was within people! But that is what Paul told the Corinthians:

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. (I Corinthians 6:19-20)

Perhaps we are so far removed from those olden days that we take for granted the idea that He lives within us....

Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. (II Timothy 1:14)

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, (Ephesians 3:17-18)

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. (John 14:23)

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27)

I feel like saying "AMEN!" after reading those.....how about you? (Grin)  Paul says that it truly IS a mystery, this concept of "Christ in us." But what a joy, and what a blessing it is!

We are the temple of our God in the world today...... and that's where the cleansing of the temple kinda hits home -- have we thought very much about the ways that we have become a little bit sloppy in our spiritual habits?  Have we softened up a bit in our resistance to evil thoughts? Have we allowed some destructive behaviors to creep in?  Or, how about this? Have we begun to accommodate the secular and selfish ways of the world that is around us?

OUCH! I know at least one of those hit home for me..... did the Spirit tromp on your toes, too?

We are all human, and as humans, we are prone to what the old folks called "backsliding" once in a while. It's not like we go off the deep end, right? We just let little things slip into our daily lives. And like weeds in our gardens, they begin to spread and to grow. They begin to crowd out our commitment to Christ and His kingdom. Our relationship with Jesus begins to get pushed back, away from being "top priority."

It's a subtle process. Like when the temple in Jerusalem gradually turned into a marketplace. Or like our own homes..... a little dust, a little dirt, we begin to see it building up on the baseboards and in the corners, but we don't notice it much. Dust bunnies under the beds, cobwebs along the ceiling, it happens slowly. Then, all of a sudden, we look around and realize (like grandma did) that it's time for spring cleaning!

I hope we will each do this, this week. Let's have a time of introspection; look within ourselves and see the ways that we have strayed from our "first love," and gotten away from the righteousness of God. Let's ask the Spirit to help us be worthy places for Him to dwell.