A Temple of the Holy Spirit
Do you have some difficult faith topics that you push away from your mind as much as you can? I bet you do. I think we all do. One of my challenging faith concepts has long time been that ‘my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit’. Not because I would not agree with the statement. But because it is humbling to think that my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. THE HOLY SPIRIT!!!
Or didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.(1 Cor.6:19-20, MSG)
Some time ago I wrote a blog post about how understanding that self-control (a spiritual fruit) is “an ability to marshal and direct our energies wisely” (Gal.5:22-24, MSG). That realization opened me up to the work of the Holy Spirit in this area of my life. Since then I’ve been praying for the spiritual fruit of self-control that I had previously unconsciously pushed away.
Self-control has a strong correlation with our bodies being temples of the Holy Spirit. Now I can see that our taking care of our bodies well is about using our energies wisely. It’s not legalism, it’s about taking care of our bodies wisely. It’s about taking care of our temples of the Holy Spirit so we can serve stronger, longer and better for the glory of God.
Legalism really doesn’t get us anywhere. Grace does get us everywhere. When God blesses us with his grace and his gifts we are able to marshal our bodies wisely and well. That is what I am working on now. By the grace of God I will be able to place also my physical being -not just my spiritual being- before God as an offering.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. (Romans 12:1, NIV)
Gracious God,
Thank you for the gift of our physical bodies.
Help us to marshall our bodies wisely.
Guide us to serve you stronger,
longer and better.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen
Q4U: What being the temple of the Holy Spirit means to you?
Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you continue your journey of faith!
* [As you might have noticed, I enjoy reading the Bible in different translations and love comparing them. I have started linking the Bible verses to Biblegateway.com so you can easily read (and compare) them in the different versions I’ve used while preparing each post.]
Image courtesy of Travis Silva, design Mari-Anna Stålnacke. This is a refurbished post from 2010. Linking up today with Unite the Bloggersphere , Three Word Wednesday and #tellhisstory.
8 thoughts on “A Temple of the Holy Spirit”
yes, sis! was having this conversation yesterday…what a marvel~that He chooses to live in & operate thru us, so very humbling…so it is an honor to puposefully keep & maintain, each one, in our best possible way…keeping bodies & minds as a freshly cleansed vessel to be used for His Glory continuously…ever concious, keeping short accounts of sin by renewing ourselves daily thru confession, & presenting ourselves in a physical way as if we were standing before Him :))) TY, JESUS, HOLY SPIRIT, for UR Grace to do this <3
GOD BLESS & KEEP US WILLING & ENDURING for MANY years of service ahead!
Thanks, Crystal, for your thoughtful and faith-filled comment! Abundant blessings to you and yours!
I am so glad that HE lives in my – and that I don’t have to go to the temple to find Him. Your post made me think of the sacredness of the Ark of the Convenant – and made me think harder about how I treat this temple I became.
Oh, yes! What a blessing it is that we don’t have to go somewhere to find Him. He is closer to us than we are. Amazing. But, yes, it is also a privilege to take care of the temple of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for sharing! Bountiful blessings to you as you serve God with everything you’ve got!
It’s so easy to attempt to do it ourselves and surrender to self-righteousness. Being His temple reminds me I can do no good thing on my own. Any good I do is only in, through, and with Holy Spirit power. Oh, the peace that comes from resting in that truth.
Thanks, Deb, for adding an important element to this discussion. It is all done by grace or it is not done at all. Yes. But the power of grace is amazing. We certainly can rest in that. Abundant blessings to you!
The verses of scripture you shared are ones I think of often. I know with my eating disorder I do not treat my body as a temple of the Holy Spirit. This can be very convicting and the verses remind me of how He wants so much more for me. Thank you for this post and for sharing with TWW. Blessings.
Thank you for sharing your own experiences and struggles. We can’t do it but God can. Empowering grace & hope-filled blessings!