Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own. 1 Cor 6:19 (NIV)
A temple is a place where a deity is worshiped. FYI. It’s a sacred place.
In the Old and New Testament, and throughout history and the religions of the world, temples have been holy, sacred, set apart places where people would come and worship, place their offerings and pray.
Around this verse, Paul was addressing sexual immorality. And often we approach this subject from a negative point of view. All those who engage in it are bad and evil and need to repent so that can be worthy and righteous again. I hear Paul coming at it from another point of view…
YOU are sacred. YOU are the temple in which God dwells. You don’t have to follow religious rite or tradition and approach a temple to be near to God. HE DWELLS IN YOU. You can worship anytime, anywhere. In fact, your life is worship. And you are worth more than to treat your body like it's anything less than sacred. Jesus completely deregulated religion when he transferred the secret place from the temple to human hearts.
You and your life are sacred.
So, what you engage in matters in terms of living a meaningful life of faith.
V19 part 2 says, “You are not your own…”
I mean, we need to take responsibility for ourselves. Own our choices and responses. Be aware that the mark we leave on the world is completely up to our own selves. The choice belongs to me, to you… us. But the impact?
To belong purely to yourself is to live completely isolated. I’m discovering that my life belongs to me, and to my children and my husband, to my friends, to God… It’s impact is not my possession. And its purpose originated elsewhere.
In ‘the Hungering Dark’ Frederick Buechner writes,
“Humanity is like an enormous spider web. If you touch it anywhere, you set the whole thing trembling… The life that I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and that in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place and time my touch will be felt. Our lives are linked. No man is an island.”
We are temples. Sacred. Full of meaning and wonder. A place where God can be felt and found. So my friends, give yourself some respect and treat yourself and others well, take and give as much grace as you need. The effects ripple out to who knows where…
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