you are god’s temple

august 28` scripture: 1 corinthians 3:10-17

“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care.  For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.  If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw,  their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.  If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward.  If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames. Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?  If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.”

Journaling Prompts: 

1. Throughout the story of God's relationship with Israel, the notion of God himself dwelling with his chosen people is a central theme. First in the Garden, then in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple God was present to his people in a special way. Is there a place (location) in your experience where you sense God's presence in a special way? What is it about that place that makes it special?

2. Here is a definition of the word Temple: "Something regarded as having within it a divine presence; a building devoted to the worship of God; a consecrated space that is set apart from the ordinary". In 1 Corinthians 6:19 Paul says, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?" Take some time to meditate upon this idea that YOU ARE A TEMPLE (devoted, consecrated, containing a divine presence). What impact does this have on how you think of yourself (and others)? Write about this.

3. The passage this week speaks also to our collective identity as a Temple - "You yourselves (plural) are God's temple (singular). The image is of a structure being built upon the sure foundation of Jesus Christ - many pieces fitted together to form a Temple set apart, devoted to worship - "containing" within it God's divine presence in the world. How does this image change the way you think of our own church, and the Church at large?

4. The whole of scripture speaks to God's ardent desire to dwell with YOU, his beloved creation. A beautiful definition for the word "condescend" is "to descend voluntarily to the level, regarded as lower, of the person one is dealing with; be graciously willing to do something regarded as beneath one's dignity." At the dedication of the first Temple, Solomon prays, "But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you." Write your own Psalm to God, speaking to this great and mysterious truth: the God of the highest heaven descends voluntarily to reside within your own heart.