C’mon, God, you’re kidding, right? Me … a temple of the Holy Spirit?
I was humbled before God in the deepest sense of the word early this morning.
- … as I thought of God living in me, the Holy Spirit taking up residence in me.
- … and as I read his true words telling me this very thing.
How can this be? Truths that I have known and believed for years, and yet at this moment so clear and true, and so bewildering. Down the corridor past mental acknowledgement and intellectual assent God thrust me for who I am before his truth.
My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.
We so easily agree sometimes with what we believe but haven’t absorbed in the presence of God.
I’m thinking I am not temple material …
- I know the things I think and say and do at times.
I’m not going to tell you. How could I? You wouldn’t want to listen. And yet, God not only hears and knows but he is living inside this very imperfect, flawed person that he is fashioning toward holiness.
Part of my journey lately has been influenced by the writings of A.W. Tozer’s “The Divine Conquest” and an audiobook by Francis Chan – “Forgotten God.” Maybe we have been afraid to give God the Holy Spirit his due? Maybe to the point that we are dishonoring God and missing a vital element in our spiritual walk.
- 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (ESV) 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, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
The truth about me being a temple …
Do you not know – your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you? Well, no, I mean, yes, but I mean that’s a lot to swallow. You know me, God. Are you sure that you want to subject yourself to this?
The true words that explain the how …
I am no longer my own – I was bought with a price. This is how I stumble past my incredulity and accept this amazing thing that God is telling me.
Because he tells me truth in his written word the Bible. And I believe past my ignorance and trust him.
I have no merit to stand on.
This is how I can receive this truth. If evidence from my life needed to be presented as to why God should dwell in me, none would be found. Not a scrap. I would stand naked and ashamed even considering the thought.
But I don’t need to deny or defend my awfulness. I do the opposite. I confess it before a holy God, a God who is a consuming fire, and I live because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
And I believe.
- Ephesians 1:7–8 (ESV)
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight.
In Jesus we have redemption. My mess of a life is one day going to be the praise of his glory because he has made a way.
Now I get it! Kinda’ 🙂
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