Temples of God

"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?" 1 Corinthians 6. 19

The verse continues into the next: "You are not your own: you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies." It is a salutary thought that the care with which the boy Samuel in the Old Testament of the Bible kept house for Eli in the temple of the Lord at Shiloh in Israel is the care with which we should prepare our hearts and minds for God's indwelling by the Holy Spirit in our lives. If we are careless about what we read, watch and contemplate then it is like filling our stomachs with junk food. Not a recipe for healthy living!

It is not only that we damage ourselves but, from the "faith perspective", we dishonour God when we fail, with sufficient care, to prepare a place for him in our own selves. You might say "I'm only human, I cannot help making mistakes and indulging in bad taste from time to time." Maybe not, but the fact is that Jesus died our death, so that we should live his life. He knows that, for the time-being, we remain works-in-progress. But we should not abuse his patience. While it is true that we live by grace and not by works, that was never intended as an excuse for indolence. "My utmost for His highest" as Oswald Chambers challenges us in his devotional classic.

Turn to the book which bears his name and sit at Samuel's feet a-while... There we can learn attentiveness to God, integrity of life and the merit and method of intercessory prayer. Let the nourishment of God's word - the milk and the meat - transform our diet, purge our body and strengthen us for faithfulness and service...