July 7
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THE TEMPLE OF GOD IN YOU
16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are. 18 Take care that no one deceives himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the sight of God. For it is written: “He is THE ONE WHO CATCHES THE WISE BY THEIR CRAFTINESS”; 20 and again, “THE LORD KNOWS THE THOUGHTS of the wise, THAT THEY ARE useless.” 21 So then, no one is to be boasting in people. For all things belong to you, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. – 1 Corinthians 3:16-23
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In this letter, Paul reminds the believers that their bodies are the temple of God since the Spirit of God lives inside them. Because they are God’s temple, they cannot be destroyed. If anyone try to hurt God’s temple, God will deal with those who try to hurt it. Paul explains how it is important to remember that as the temple of God, we need to keep pure and holy.
In verse 18, Paul reminds them to make sure that they are not deceived by those who think they are wise. He cautions those who think they are wise that they need to be humble enough to admit that they aren’t wise so that they can become wise. This almost sounds bizarre for the world to understand. Paul explains further in verse 19 that the world’s wisdom is unlike God’s wisdom. God knows everything so, it is of no use to boast about anything they know since everything belongs to God anyway. He reiterates the importance of gratitude to the one who gave us all, our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the world we currently live in today, many people forget the source of life and everything we have. We become so performance-oriented individuals because that is how the world wants it. It is all about competition and performance. Our fallen nature tends to go with the world system’s concept of salvation. We think that we can contribute something to our salvation when in reality, there is nothing we can ever do to do that. Paul reminds us to never forget where we came from, how we need God and how to be grateful to Him for all that he had done for us. We forget to remember that we ought to keep ourselves pure so we can be used for God’s purpose alone.
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REFLECTION
• How can we keep God’s temple pure and holy for His purpose alone?