Daily Readings and Thought for August 25th. “YOUR BODY IS THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT”
How utterly challenging in a spiritual sense – is the above statement of the Apostle Paul! This is what he told the believers at Corinth.
To fully perceive the reality and wonder of this, would give the Corinthians the spiritual strength to grow to become more and more like Christ. And surely the same applies to us today.
Paul put a most significant question to the believers at Corinth. “Do you not know that your body is…” [1 Cor. 6 v.19] Is what? Do you know the rest of this quotation – and if you know it, have you (and I) absorbed its’ full significance?
What an awesome thing it is to know – in our hearts – that your “body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
We must so use our body, day by day, indeed, hour by hour, so that the things we physically do, day by day, bring, in some sense, glory to God. The outstanding example we are reading about at the moment in 1 Kings 18 & 19 is the dedication and resultant experiences of Elijah in serving the Lord: we read of his challenging experience on Mt Carmel yesterday. Today we read an astonishing sequel!
Suddenly Elijah’s faith collapsed! Ahab’s wife Jezebel was going to have him killed! “He asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” [19 v.4]
Elijah fled – for 40 days! He “lodged in” a cave. [v.9] and then “heard … the sound of a low whisper.” [v.12] “There came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” [v.13]
Do we ever sense our Lord asking us this – when we are dodging our opportunities and responsibilities in serving him, forgetting Paul’s words, “You are not your own” for we have been “bought with a price” and our “body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.”
