A Call To Faithfulness

By Hilary Boyer

What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said, “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” 2 Corinthians 6:16

There are times when my daughter and I will catch a segment of the Golden Globe awards and as that celebrity accepts their award, occasionally we hear the person thank God for their talents. The next words out of my daughter’s mouth are; does that mean he or she is a Christian? While it is fine to thank God for our talents, how can we really know? Considering the next week you hear about their rowdy, crude and illicit behavior. We cannot truly know someone else’s heart as God does and much of the time all we can “see” is, if the actions match the words. In this passage God has charged us with two specific areas of responsibility to strive to be set apart as holy witnesses for Him.

To be holy. Can you tell the difference between everyday ordinary people from those who dwell with God? Or better yet can those you interact with on a typical day see your life as different. Verse 6:15 clearly states that a believer is not to be yoked with an unbeliever. We can use the word image of a marriage ceremony between the bride and her bridegroom. They both separate themselves from the worlds they know and cleave to one another forming a covenant; just as Christ and His covenant with the church. Are our relationships, spending habits, internet sites, language, and thoughts all a reflection of walking in the light?

To be a good steward of our temple. God is the owner of our temple He dwells within (6:16) us. Therefore, that leaves us as the caretakers, but the ultimate authority over us is His alone. Are we polluting our bodies with the wicked things of this world, in turn causing us to lose our witness and simply blend in? If so, we are damaging the very dwelling place of the Almighty. We must strive to filter our behaviors, words and thoughts first through our Father (6:18). When you think about if you would let someone live in a house you paid for, at no charge to them and they didn’t take care of it, how would you feel? The same holds true to think about how our creator must feel, when we willingly live in sin.

Have these scriptures caused you to check in on the upkeep of your temple? It is a matter of indifference to God whether we are a Hollywood star or a PTA parent, because it is one thing to profess being a committed Christian it is entirely another thing to be wholly surrendered and set apart. When we confess by mouth Jesus Christ, does what we say, line up with our behaviors?

Read 1 Corinthians 6:1-20.