Your Temple

Your Temple
 
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” I Corinthians 6.19, 20
 

One of the greatest concepts within Christianity is the realization that the follower of Christ is, in fact, a Temple of the Holy Spirit. Over the years, I’m sure, you have heard a number of sermons on this very concept – the concept pressing hard upon us to be clean both in spirit and in body.
 
In this Corinthian passage, Paul is urging his readers to remain pure physically – to abstain from fornication and adultery – to realize that the believer is the bride of Christ – His personal bride espoused and betrothed to Him. To court another in any sense of a relationship would be to violate the chaste relationship between Christ and His beloved.
 
Paul’s exhortation demands that those “bought with a price” (redeemed through the shed blood of Jesus Christ) should “glorify” (“render glorious esteem”) in both body and spirit.
 
It is this thought of the “body” which arrests my thoughts here. While we often think of abstaining from things which are not expedient (I Corinthians 10.23) as glorifying God, we must also consider the positive aspect of praising God for how we are made. (Psalm 139.14)
 
Do we join in with Paul as we glorify God in our physical weaknesses? In our infirmities and diseases? Of course we pray for healing. James encourages us with the reminder that, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (James 5.16) However, we must face the reality that even though crippled or bedridden, we have a responsibility to glory in whatever condition we find ourselves.
 
Remember Paul’s prayer that God said, “No” to? And, Paul’s response? “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” (II Corinthians 12.9, 10)
 
Paul did more than exalt God’s name in and through his trials and tribulations; he took pleasure in them. That’s a difficult concept when you’re facing a nurse with a syringe hoping to find a viable vein to tap, or on day 100 of your hospital stay following your second “widow maker.” It becomes difficult, indeed, when the surgeon nicks an artery during a standard procedure requiring an extra four days in the hospital. These are all some of the situations I have encountered along my journey over the past few years.
 
Rather than having a pity-party, maybe the true follower of Christ could use those opportunities to speak peace to the nurses, doctors, and technicians. Maybe we could accept the fact that God is Sovereign and has us in that situation in order to be a blessing to some lost soul. While your path will not necessarily resemble mine, if you are a true follower of Christ you will have opportunity to glory in the Cross.
 
Maybe that doctor needs to hear of your wonderful Savior. Maybe that nurse who “misses” the vein needs to be comforted. Maybe we should be less concerned about a dry piece of chicken for supper and more concerned for the soul of the person delivering our meal.
 
Maybe – just maybe.