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The spontaneous song “Temple” by Maverick City Music has been a much-enjoyed earworm in my head for a couple weeks now. 

“You are the center of my heart and my soul

I am a temple, I am a temple

Holy and worthy, You call me Your home

I am a temple, I am a temple…”

And while studying the last chapter of Nehemiah last Saturday with the fellow sisters of the Whispers and Fringes study group, the chorus of the song and the chapter connected together for me. 

Chapter 13 is where Nehemiah was called back to Jerusalem to bring the once again wayward Israelites back to God. 

I’ve got to confess, reading it I realized he wasn’t playing Mr. Nice Guy when doing it…more like Mr. T (“I pity the fool!”). Sorry, let’s make that the OT preview of what Jesus himself would do in the Temple later in the Gospels.

And this past Sunday, I listened to a sermon from IPC Hebron Houston about the book of Jude, where I was reminded how we are to spiritually contend, or maintain our life with God, because otherwise it’s a slippery slope to backslide or disconnect with Him.  

Jude himself was also not being much of a Mr. Nice Guy either here via words. And again, another connection to the song.

So, I had a song, a leader from the Old Testament, and the brother of Jesus in the New Testament all reminding me in the space of a weekend how I am God’s temple and that He is to dwell in me. And that it’s a fight to keep it that way. 

But why is it a fight? 

In the Old Testament, initially the tabernacle and then the later built Temple was the earthly place where God dwells. The distinction there is that everything in it was kept in a purified/holy status so that God’s presence could come down and dwell there. The chorus to the song and 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says that we are now the Temple for God to dwell in. 

Whoa. But our body? Our mind? There are so many thoughts, attitudes, actions, words, memories that need to be, to quote a phrase from Beyoncé, ‘put in a box to the left’ before we could let God in.

That means we need to keep ourselves in such a way that welcomes the presence of God. Things that don’t? Get rid of it. Why? Because we are the temple of God. If we want God to reside in us, and if we want to maintain our life with God, we have got to get rid of things that would keep Him out of us. So, we don’t hold on to grudges that we would normally do. Or don’t say that first response in anger. Or don’t follow a habit or practice that may be acceptable with others but not with God. 

It’s a very hard process.

We may have to be a little like Nehemiah and rebuke those ways. Or turn them over like Jesus did. But the end result is so worth it, God continually with us.  

This year has been quite the tumultuous year to say the least. But with the time that is left of this year, let’s take time to check ourselves and see if there is anything that needs to be rid of so that the words from the song “Holy and worthy, You call me Your home, I am a temple, I am a temple…” have a much sweeter meaning to us.

~Sheba