A reader recently posted a reply to one of my articles, and it got me to thinking. We are taught from an early age in the christian religion that God is up there in heaven somewhere, looking down on us who live here on earth.
I can remember hearing so many times the pastor saying during a special service, God is going to show up and the spirit will fall, and we will have a special time of fellowship together.
So why is it we are told that God is up there and we are down here and he may show up now and then when the conditions are right? It just didn’t make sense.
After some time of thinking about this, it just didn’t feel right to think that God is going to show up only at certain buildings where people meet at set times, with set programs. God sent his Spirit to live within us all the time.
Jesus prayed in John 17 that we are to be one as he and the father are one. The Spirit lives within us, which to me says God lives within us. We are merged together with Him. We are one with God as Jesus is one with God.
When two people marry, God says they become one. So it is with God and us. When we put our faith in him and accept his free gift of grace, we become one. We are no longer separate individuals, we are one with God. We aren’t God, but we are merged together as one. We are the temple, or house of God.
I wanted a better way of saying what I felt, so I started saying I was a Christ follower. But as it was pointed out to me, this still suggested a separation between God and us.
We have to get the religious thinking out of us and begin living the truth, that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. God is within us. There is no separation, no waiting on God to come down. We don’t have to follow and keep up with Christ. He is within us.
We don’t have to wait until Sunday to go to a building for God to show up, that isn’t his house. We are the body of Christ, each of us are equally important parts. We are his dwelling place, each and every day.
