"Do you not know that you are the temple of GOD and that the Spirit of GOD dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of GOD, GOD will destroy him. For the temple of GOD is Holy, which temple you are. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).
WOW! This biblical exhortation by Apostle Paul puts into perspective just how important we are to keep ourselves, our bodies, Holy in our walk with GOD, when we accept JESUS as our LORD and Savior. When we are saved, we have accepted JESUS CHRIST as our LORD, who is the only Way, the Truth and Life (John14:6). When we become saved, we are baptized with the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit baptism is a spiritual event orchestrated by Jesus, which permits us to be members of GOD's Kingdom (John 3: 5). Through the Holy Spirit baptism, we also inherit eternal life with GOD in heaven (John 3:16). The Holy Spirit baptism therefore marks the beginning of our conversion, the beginning of our walk with CHRIST. "Walk[ing] by the Spirit" (Galatians 5:16) represents a spiritual journey. We are made new creatures in CHRIST when the Holy Spirit dwells in us (2 Corinthians 5:17). This means that CHRIST is the person living through us via the Holy Spirit. Apostle Paul put this in concept when he declared that he was crucified with CHRIST and no longer lives, but CHRIST lives in him (Galatians 2:20). The function of the Holy Spirit is therefore to make us more like CHRIST. This is a significant spiritual truth that every born-again Christians must understand. We must adopt the mindset that our lives do not belong to us anymore. JESUS gave us His life and we are therefore called to live a life "holy and acceptable to God, which is [our] spiritual worship" (1 Corinthians 12:1). Hence why Paul states that we are predestined to be conformed to the image of our LORD JESUS (Romans 8:29). The process of being conformed to the image of CHRIST is called sanctification, and this is enacted through reading and meditating on the Word of GOD. The image of CHRIST here refers to the character of CHRIST. But CHRIST gave us His Holy Spirit, therefore the character of the Holy Spirit is the same as the character of CHRIST. And the character of the Holy Spirit is called the "fruit of the Spirit" (Galatians 5:22). Therefore brethren, it follows that, the Holy Spirit is the foundational seal for a Christian life (Ephesians 1:13). Our physical and spiritual bodies do not belong to us, but to CHRIST. We are the temple of CHRIST. We house the Holy Spirit. And we must abide in CHRIST in order to be fruitful. We must keep our temple Holy. The following points summarize the biblical explanations of what it means to keep ourselves Holy. 1) Obey GOD's commandments: From the beginning of creation, commandment has always been the foundational principle for what it means to follow GOD. JESUS said those who love Him will keep His commandments (John 14:15). Therefore, it does not matter what you do or attempt to do for GOD, if you don't obey GOD's commandments you have failed already. The prophet Samuel reiterated that when he told King Saul that obedience is better than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22). Saul is a classic example of a man who was saved but persistently disobedient (1 Samuel 10:1-12). He was a child of GOD but he made the mistake of attempting to sacrifice instead of obeying GOD. And GOD destroyed him, by removing him from his anointed position of King and giving him a spirit of torment (1Samuel 16:14). We see clearly through Saul's story the significance of obedience to God's commandments as the first important criterion to follow GOD. The first set of commandments given in the Old Testament were the 10 commandments (Exodus 20). We must respect the 10 commandments with diligence. In the New Testament, CHRIST finalized and added what He called the Greatest Commandments (Matthew 22:36-40). We must respect these Greatest commandments most diligently, and this leads to our next criteria. 2) Love GOD with your WHOLE self: Obeying GOD's 10 commandments are the basic and most fundamental responsibilities in our walk with GOD. But JESUS made our fellowship with GOD even more clear when He stated that the greatest commandment is to love GOD with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength (Matthew 22:36; Luke 10:27, Deuteronomy 6:5; Deuteronomy 10:12). The second greatest commandment, He stated, was to love your neighbor as your self. This means that, obeying the 10 commandments is not enough. Anything you do, without putting GOD first is already a sin even if you don't disobey the 10 commandments. Unfortunately this is the principle of Christian servitude that many Christians have undervalued due to the many pleasures out in the world. This allows some space to justify addictions or immoral behavior. They can smoke, get drunk, and indulge in sexual immorality without remorse. Some ask "Well, what is wrong with smoking", it is not a sin for it is not specifically stated so in the ten commandments. But in so doing, they have ignored the greatest commandment as stated by JESUS in the passage above. In reality, if you do all those things, you are not disobeying the ten commandments. But clearly, if you are born of the Spirit, you feel a sense of guilt and lack of peace when you do those things because they contaminate the temple. Hence why the Apostles exhorted us to put worldly impurities away (Colossians 3:5). John says the desires of the flesh, are not from GOD (1 John 2:16). Paul puts it even clearly in Galatians where he lists the sins of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21). Rivalries ad fleshly activities are the most minute and easily overlooked sinful habits that plague the life of many Christians. When you receive the Holy Spirit, CHRIST convicts you of the habits that you must change. Unfortunately, some Christians become so caught up with worldly activities that they don't have time to pay attention to the instructions of the Holy Spirit when He speaks. This lead us to our next criteria. 3) Walk by the Spirit: Walking by the Spirit I believe is one of the most misunderstood, and undervalued principles of Christianity. And to walk by the Spirit, we must abide by the Spirit, which means, we must meditate on the word of GOD day and night (Joshua 1:8). I remember having a talk with one of my Christian friends a few years ago regarding my career path. He asked me what i wanted to do in the future. I told him that I aspired to be a surgeon, but that I am praying and waiting on GOD to speak to me and give me the directions. He appeared rather surprised and confused by my comment. He didn't understand what it means to hear from GOD. He thought that, as a Christian, you just make whatever decision you have about life, and if it works it is GOD's will. But I told him that, as Christians, we have the Holy Spirit within us, which will speak to us and guide us in our decisions, which we must obey in order to glorify GOD. This sounded like a foreign concept to him, and I am convinced it is to otherwise as well. However, walking by the Holy Spirit constitutes the very foundation of what it means to walk with Christ. How can you say you are a Christian and you are walking with Christ if you cannot hear from Him? And how can you hear from GOD, if you do not read and meditate on GOD's words. In fact, JESUS said that Christians must live by the Word of GOD just as they eat everyday (Matthew 4:4). This means that, reading the Bible is just as important as eating food. Unfortunately, many Christians do not practice this very foundational requirement for our walk with the Holy Spirit. GOD has promised all His children that He has destined a great and successful future for them (Jeremiah 29:11). But this promise is only realized if we first walk by His commandments through obedience and worship. When GOD blesses you with a great life on earth, you know it, you enjoy it, you have inner peace and joy and you give Him praise and worship. You also serve as a role model for others and influence many others to become saved. But how can you know what GOD has in store for you if you are not ready to listen to Him? Brethren, I challenge you today to learn to listen to GOD. Make an effort everyday, beginning today, to read and meditate on the Bible and pray consistently. I pray that the GOD who speaks to me regularly through the Holy Spirit will also speak to you when you take the time to know Him with all sincerity of heart. Brethren, you know you cannot lie to yourself, let alone lie to GOD. If there is still a minor bad habit lingering somewhere in your life, put it all away. Be sincere in your heart, and GOD will SURELY speak to you. I write about these issues because I too have made some of these mistakes in my life, but when I turned to GOD with my whole heart, I marveled (and continue to marvel) at GOD's transforming power. GOD Bless! --Ulysses, Editor |
Today's Verse
“Behold you are beautiful my love, behold, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves” Song of Solomon 1:15 ESV Quotations"A word spoken by you when your conscience is clear and your heart full of God's Spirit is worth ten thousand words spoken in unbelief and sin." Archives
January 2023
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