Respect for God’s Temple

Psalm 139:13–16

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.     NIV

Some years ago, God began to speak to me about the marvel of the physical body, about the marvel of my own body, that it is a masterpiece of divine workmanship. And I began to be concerned that I treated that masterpiece aright, that I did not abuse it, that I did not neglect it. And I’ve been so concerned when I see Christians who do not appreciate the marvel of their own body.

That body has a very special purpose. God provided the material in the depths of the earth. He fashioned it together. He had a blueprint before it ever came into being, and He worked it out in every detail. And, you know, the purpose for that body, the supreme purpose is to be God’s temple – the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands. We can’t fashion a building that will hold Him, but in His infinite grace and mercy God predetermined that He would fashion a body and that that body would become His dwelling place. Paul says, “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?”