1 Corinthians 3:16,17 – Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.
The Old Covenant days of the temple are over. According to the New Covenant, we are God’s house, His Spirit lives within us. So many people say the organized church is where God lives, but this verse tells us that God is more personal than that. God can no longer be contained within a building. We are His dwelling place.
Each one of us who are saved by grace are now the temple of God. It’s so hard to get away from the thought that God is up there somewhere, or that we have to go to church and wait for God to show up. This kind of thinking is now obsolete.
These verses point out that the temple of God is holy, and that is what we are. We are His temple, and that makes us holy. Not by any works we have done or can do, but by the work that Christ has done. It’s hard for us to accept the fact that in Christ, we are holy and righteous. We are kings and priests. We were sinners, but the old sin nature was crucified with Christ on the cross. It is now dead and we are new creatures in Him.
We need to stop being so negative and depressed because we feel like we’ve let God down and unable to live a holy life. Actually, you can’t live a holy life, but God, through the grace of Christ, makes us holy. We are the righteousness of God. It is Him, Jesus our all in all, living through us.
Our spirit is now holy and righteous in God’s sight. Our mind is still being transformed and our body is still a work in progress, but thanks be to God, our spirit has been made perfect in His eyes.
Let’s start focusing on the fact that God is right here within us through His Spirit. We don’t have to go somewhere looking for Him, we don’t have to wait for Him to show up. Right now we are in His presence. He is the vine, we are the branches. Just rest in Him and allow Him to live through you to touch those around you each day.
Thank you for this reminder. I try to remind myself often of this very thing, it is difficult most days, hearing the voice(s) in my head consistently reminding me of all my sin and wickedness and failings. That is why it is good to hear it from a brother now and then, helps a heap. I long for the days when more are able to rest in this revelation as well, so that the words of encouragement are more common place. Thanks again. John Morris.
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Thank you John for your remarks. It is sad that so many times the church teaches that we are basically bad, we are just sorry sinners getting by through the grace of God. I really don’t remember hearing the true grace message throughout all the years I attended church. I agree with you, it is good to hear this message from other brothers and sisters. Jesus is our everything. He took away our sin nature. We still have a body and mind that are part of the world, but our spirit has been made holy. We still sin, but the sin nature has been crucified. I think a good thing to do when we sin is remind ourselves that we are holy and righteous because of Christ. It isn’t what we do or don’t do, it is what Christ has already done.
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