Temple

If my body is the temple, surely my ribs must be the altar, and my heart the offering to God.

I stand in front of a cathedral. Its mighty walls tower before me, intricately adorned yet built to last for centuries. It is as if the stonemasons of 500 years ago wanted to be remembered by architects 500 years from now. Spires reach for the skies in a manner that could make even Babel envious. Stained glass windows filter the sun’s pure light, allowing only a few colors of the spectrum to reach the wooden pews. If God’s word is light, then it enters these halls only after being obscured, colored, and tainted. Behind the altar is a statue of Jesus crucified. How else could He watch over His people if not from upon the cross where He was slain? And then, finally, I see the solid oak gate, standing guard like the cherubim of Genesis denying all access to Eden.

We erect these cathedrals to please God.

Or is it to impress people?

After all, by building them, we are merely following Christ’s command.

Or are we following the desires of man?

“Don’t you know?” Paul of Tarsus asks the Corinthians, “Don’t you know your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.”

Our bodies are temples.

They are to be kept clean.

They are where the RUACH, the Spirit, resides.

They are to be used to honor God.

We erect cathedrals while our true temples lie forgotten - dormant and dusty.

We act sinless on Sunday while dirtying ourselves six days a week.

And how well do we keep our temples?

I think of Jesus when He entered the temple in Jerusalem. Cattle and sheep filled the courtyard. The cooing of caged doves echoed from the walls. Merchants praised their goods, trying to drown out the voices of their rivals. A house of prayer had been transformed into a den of thieves. Men sought to accrue worldly treasures in a place intended for heavenly relationship.

And what did Jesus do upon witnessing this desecration?

He flipped tables and pushed over benches. He scattered the coins of the money changers. He fashioned a whip out of cords and drove the merchants out. He chased off those who did not respect the holiness of His Father’s temple (John 2:13).

Because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we no longer need a building to fill the role of a temple. No longer must we sacrifice animals for the atonement of our sins. Jesus was the Lamb that was slain, and it is now our bodies which are the sites of service, prayer, and relationship with God.

Paul says those who have decided to follow Christ must honor God with their bodies.

It is not cathedrals that must be built strong and kept clean.

It is not cathedrals that must be tended to and kept holy.

It is us,

Our bodies,

To more perfectly be able to live out Jesus’ greatest commands of loving our God and loving our neighbor.

No architect would build a cathedral with thin walls of paper and wood. No architect would raise towers that stand crooked and trembling. So too, our bodies must be fortified, and we must love them. To love my body is to engage in rigorous exercise so that it does not grow weak before my time on earth is done. It is to give it proper food and rest so I can live and serve with the endurance of an athlete. It is to vehemently reject sinning against my own body, disallowing evil to flow in, and ensuring that no evil springs forth from it.

And I do this because my body is the temple of the Spirit of God. I do not wish to defile it. Instead, I want my windows to remain untinted so His light can fill my halls, unobscured, unaltered, and true.

Now, if I choose to reject Christ, I can do whatever I want.

I can spend my life collecting earthly treasures.

I can curse and swear.

I can give in to the desires of the flesh.

I can gossip, and I can remain unbothered by my own sexual immorality and idolatry.

I can claim my body as my own, treat it as I desire, and do with it what I wish.

I can revel in gluttony and hug the couch as my physical form grows weak.

That is, if I reject Christ.

If I choose Christ, it is not so. If I choose Christ, I am commanded to take care of my body, the temple of the RUACH. Whether I eat or drink, whether I rest, work, speak, or train… I am called to do it all for the glory of God, and so it touches every aspect of my life.

And I will not allow my temple to become a den of thieves.