Week 5 {52 Passage Challenge}

"Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are Gods." - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Notes from John MacArthur:

"The Spirit of God lives in us. We literally are a temple in which God lives. We're not our own. We were bought, and the price was the precious blood of Jesus Christ as a Lamb without blemish and without spot. Therefore, we have the obligation to use this Holy Spirit temple in such a way that brings honor to God.

I had a friend in who was visiting a great cathedral in New York City. When he came to a shrine to St. Joseph, there was a sign hanging around St. Joseph's neck that read: Do not worship here. This shrine is out of order. My friend said to himself, 'I wonder if there aren't many days when that sign should be hanging around my neck. Don't expect to see Christ here. This shrine is out of order.'

Your body is that shrine. It is that temple to the Holy Spirit because He lives there. Sometimes I'm afraid He is obscured. Make sure your shrine is in order. Glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's."

Further Thoughts

I always think it's amazing how Scripture passages reflect other Scripture passages. It's incredible to me how the whole Bible was written over thousands of years by different men and yet it fits together so cohesively. It is such a testament to the fact that the Word of God is indeed - God's very words, and no man could have ever come up with what is written in the Bible.

I've been reading through the book of Matthew this past week. In Matthew chapter 13, Jesus talks to his disciples about how at the end of the age, those who don't believe in Jesus will be thrown into a furnace of fire. I was so taken aback by that image of fire. One that I don't like to think about. 

It reminded me of Daniel chapter 3 where Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were told that they must bow down to the golden image of Nebuchadnezzar or they would be thrown into a furnace of fire. They refused to bow down and worship an idol, and they were thrown into the furnace by Nebuchadnezzar's men. But God miraculously protected them from the flames, and they were delivered, without even the slightest smell of smoke on their clothes.

When I read that passage, I was struck with two things: first, the way the two passages connect. In both instances, Jesus is the one who makes a way of escape from the fire. God didn't have to save Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the temporal fire (they would have been saved from the eternal fire). But God chose to save them from that fire on that day, as a testament to everyone there that He is God and that He alone is able to save.

I also thought about the fact that those three young men yielded their bodies in obedience to God. They yielded their bodies. I can't imagine anything more horrific or terrifying than being tied up and then cast into a furnace of fire, and yet they were willing to allow it to happen to them. Why? Because their relationship to God directly affected what they did with their bodies. Their outward actions correlated to the inward state of their hearts.

So, all this to say, when I came to today's weekly passage, I once again saw Scripture connecting. The way that I live my life on a daily basis directly reflects my relationship with God. Do I yield my body daily in service and obedience to the Lord? Do I do laundry, cook dinner, take care of a sick baby, dust, spend time with my husband, and go running, all the while yielding my heart and the things I do in my physical body to the Lord? 

Lots to think about.