Becoming the Dwelling Place of the Lord

For those of us who are believers in Christ, we know that salvation does not end in the prayer that we pray and the confession we make. It is a continual process of having faith to believe in His word and the Holy Spirit's sanctification in our lives, molding us to conform into the image of our Lord. When we invite Christ to dwell inside of us, we don't just “make room” amid the sin and filth in our lives; by His grace, we surrender all that we have and are in exchange for all that He is and has planned for us. Our bodies literally become the tabernacle (or dwelling place) of the Lord; we house the Spirit of God inside of us. And His temple is not to be defiled.

“Or do you not knowthat your body

is the templeof the Holy Spirit

Who is in you,

who you have from God,

and you are not your own?

For you were

bought with a price;

therefore, glorify God

in your body and in your spirit,

which are God's.

~ 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ~

“How lovely is

Your tabernacle,

O Lord of hosts!”

~ Psalm 84:1 ~

“For now I have

chosen and sanctified this house,

that My Name may be there forever;

and My eyes and My heart

will be there perpetually.”

~ 2 Chronicles 7:16 ~

Before the Messiah came to this earth in human flesh, the Jewish temple was the place where the glory of God dwelt. Keeping the temple beautiful and consecrated to Him was a serious and holy task for the priests. Once a year, one high priest was chosen to enter the Holy of Holies, the most holy and sacred area of the temple that housed the very presence of God. The priest would have to go through meticulous rituals to cleanse himself and repent of the minutest sins in his life. He would then enter the holy chamber with a rope around his ankle in case he was struck dead and the others needed to pull him out. The temple of God was serious business because it housed the very presence of the holy God.

And we are that temple. We house the very presence of the Almighty. Should we be haphazard and spontaneous with a task that once was the most sacred and holy of all? The seriousness of how the temple was treated in the Old Testament reveals the seriousness of our position as Christ's temple now. Meaning that we have been called to be holy as He is holy. We are to be on constant guard against any vile deed, word, or thought that would defile His temple (no matter if that means separating ourselves from certain company, abstaining from certain modes of entertainment, etc.).

“And what agreement

has the temple of God with idols?

For you are the

temple of the living God.

As God has said:

'I will dwell in them

and walk among them.

I will be their God,

and they shall be My people.'

Therefore

'come out from among them

and be separate, says the Lord.

Do not touch what is

unclean, and I will

receive you.' “

~ 2 Corinthians 6:16-17 ~

You can see that Scripture makes it very clear that we are called to be set-apart unto the Lord. Sadly, the church takes this message as extreme or legalistic, claiming that it's okay to dabble with the things of the world and commit spiritual adultery in order to “be in touch with the culture” in order to win others to the Lord. We convince ourselves that to understand the angst of sinners we must participate in their wickedness with them. As a younger generation, we shy away from terms such as “holiness” and “righteousness” because they sound “holier-than-thou” and we're afraid to be labeled as legalistic. Therefore, we simply skip over the challenge us to life a holy life worthy of the gospel all to avoid becoming Amish or entering a convent. The term legalism has nothing to do with our standards or how we conduct ourselves. Legalism is merely (and not so merely) trying to gain the Lord's approval and grace through our own futile efforts, rather than accepting the gift that has already been given to us by His blood. Christianity achieved through legalism (and that's not really Christianity) is dead.

But so is ours. We have swung to the opposite end of the pendulum in order to not look legalistic, delighting in as much of the world as possible in order to prove that Christianity isn't just for stuffy librarians and backwoodsy schoolmarms. As Christians, we are called to lay aside every sin and to remove all impurity from our lives. We are called to live holy lives, set-apart unto the Lord without succumbing to the temptations of the world.

“But fornication

and all uncleanness

or covetousness,

let it not even

be named among you,

as is fitting for saints;

neither filthiness,

nor foolish talking,

nor coarse jesting,

which are not fitting,

but rather

giving of thanks.

For this you know,

that no fornicator,

unclean person,

nor covetous man,

who is an idolater,

has any inheritance

in the kingdom of Christ and God.”

~ Ephesians 5:3-5 ~

Living a holy and upright life does not come by making up a rigid set of rules; it does not come from isolating ourselves from society. It only comes by yielding ourselves completely over to the Holy Spirit's work in our lives, allowing the Lord to have full reign over our bodies, souls, minds, emotions, and hearts, by laying down our selfish and worldly desire upon the altar. When we allow the Lord to strip away any carnal, sinful, and selfish desire from our lives, that's when His great radiance can shine unhindered through our beings.