because I want to remember what being the temple means

There was a time when it bothered me to share new things I learned, specifically in the spiritual realm, because I didn’t want to appear as if I was behind the curve. My mind blowing realization, my lightbulb, could be someone else’s old news. Bless all the self-conscious hearts!

Let it be said now and forevermore, who cares when you learn something, what’s more important is that you learn it. Have you ever seen those memes, twittter posts, FB statuses, etc. that say I was today year’s old when I learned ______________________? For example, last weekend I learned that the Washington Redskins, now Washington Football Team is based in D.C. I had thought for my entire life they were in Washington state. I might have received a bit of a gasp and astounded look from my oldest, but other than that, all I got was new information. You really do learn something new everyday.

Lightbulb moments do not have to just pertain to brand new information. Sometimes they can happen from a shift in thinking, a sentence that changes a perspective, an ah ha that fits an added piece into a present thought. Those are my favorite. It’s like wiping your glasses and putting them back on again. You could see before, but now it’s so much clearer.

Sunday School is a pretty new thing for me. Before beginning to attend our church, the last Sunday School class experience I had was my Senior year of high school, and we might have just crossed the 20 year mark of that. Every church since has had small groups and/or discipleship groups that meet on different nights, and while I miss both of those things, saying Sunday School holds a bit of nostalgia for me and the fact that the class I attend feels more like a D group anyway makes it pretty perfect.

It was within class where this beautiful ah ha appeared and I only feel a little bad that it didn’t really pertain to what we were discussing, but it was 100% initiated by two different statements made by my lovely teacher.

First, “knowing what happened in the Old Testament gives understanding and appreciation for the events that happen in the New Testament.

Second, “the Holy Spirit indwells in us because we are the temple.”

Neither of these were new knowledge on their own, but the combination of the two came together to build a new view, that shift in perspective, to where I see myself in a different way, to where I can look upon others in a different way, to where I can speak truth to another in a different way. A way with a further understanding, an appreciation, a previously unreached level of humility and ecstasy, that I was the temple, not a temple, but THE temple of God.

I grew up thinking that being the temple meant you best not mess up. Don’t drink, don’t smoke, do not wear skimpy clothing, do not get a tattoo, etc. Your body is the temple, dang it, don’t desecrate the temple. Being the temple was work, a balance of do and not do, an image to maintain, lest the inhabitant up and leaves.

Spoiler alert, this is a completely false view, and I knew that, I just didn’t ever pay attention to knowing that I knew that. My adult self didn’t ever go back to my younger self and say, “Sis, that ain’t it!” That is, until this past Sunday when I let the Old Testament speak understanding into the New.

In the book of Exodus, around chapters 35-40, God gave Moses an instruction to build a tablernacle, which was basically a temple in tent form so that they could haul it around the wilderness with them. This tabernacle was to be constructed with gold, silver, and bronze, with purple, blue, and scarlet yarns, with linen, and fur, and leather. Acacia would we build it’s poles, and special stones, oils, spices, and incenses would bring all the senses into play. Careful instruction was given from the tables and lamps down to the utensils and embroidery in the curtain to where skilled craftsman were needed to fulfill the commands. Bottom line, this thing was gonna be lit! And when it was all done, the glory of the Lord filled it with a cloud by day and fire by night and used it to commune with them and guide them to his promised place.

Again, generations later, David had a dream of building a temple for God. At the end of 1 Chronicles, he shares the plan involving vestibules, houses, treasuries, upper rooms, inner chambers, courts and the holy place where the ark could live. David began to collect all that would be needed to build it and stored it up, because God told him that he was not the one who would see it through. His son, Solomon, was the one whom the task was given, and far and wide he gathered again the gold, SO MUCH GOLD, silver, bronze, iron, wood, stones, and marble. And again, skilled craftsman were needed so that every wall, every pillar, every curtain, every basin was craft to the utmost beauty. And in this place, God’s glory lived, and behind that curtain in the holiest of holies he communed with them.

Can you see where this is going?

A tabernacle is no longer needed, a temple no longer stands in the manner it once did. What is here now is us, His people, our bodies, THE temple. No craftsman on earth can create anything as wonderful as how he handcrafted us. No gold, or stone, or oil, or wood can contain what we have been given to store.

Because of Christ, the curtain was torn, and we became the dwelling place, housing in us, in each of us what once resided in a man made location. The Holy Spirit, His helper, His gift, indwells in us, the temple. Here to commune with us and guide us until our time on earth is done and we reach that promised place.

Whether this was just a good reminder, or whether you were today years old when you thought about it from this perspective, I’m praying for you friend. Praying you see how carefully crafted you are, and praying you remember on a daily basis, that if you are his you are the temple and you feel the pure joy and the deep humility that that truth brings. Pray for me.

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