Day 171

1 Kings 7:23-8:21, Acts 13:42-14:7, Psalms 76:1-12

The body is a temple – apparently. Although sometimes, when we look at our own, we may think more in terms of a derelict warehouse. My train of thought for this continued from yesterday when we looked at the Old Testament temple and how, today, Christ is within us, rather than just within a building. As we continued in today’s readings to look at the grandness of the temple I started to focus on this idea of us being the temple.

It does start to beg the question how we treat our bodies, the dwelling of Christ. I stand convicted as someone who does not really look after his well enough. The point is perhaps underlined by the fact that this particular temple is not man made, but rather the craftsmanship of God. There are so many levels to this analogy, we can look at the day to day care of our bodies but it is also a firm reminder that we should avoid drugs and all those things which harm the body, things that start to damage this particular temple.

In the readings, there is reference today of the Holy Place, that central part of the temple (see yesterday’s link) where the Ark of the Covenant is to rest. This made me focus on Christ at the very heart of us and here the analogy moved away from just physical care of the body. If Christ lives at the very core of our being, it begs the question as to whether our hearts are places lined with gold and gleaming with the glory of the Lord, or whether they are places of rusty cast iron dulled by hatred and a lack of love for others.

Solomon’s intention with the temple was to create something that would be to the glory of God. We can ask the question as to whether we are creating derelict old warehouses or whether we are creating things that are to God’s glory. Simply as an example, we could perhaps compare our current church with the old chapel at Sandgate Head and ask which visually gives glory to God at the moment. The challenge for our lives is to ensure that what people see is something that shines with love and shows of God’s grace and glory. That is to create a temple within us that matches Solomon’s.

The challenge is not one we have to handle alone. The glory of the Lord filled the temple like a cloud (vv10-11) and all of Solomon’s gold will have seemed like dull iron compared to that. When we change the things that need changing in our lives and allow the glory of the Lord to shine in us, then that warehouse suddenly starts to take on a new lease of life.