Do you not know?

Contributor: Dr. Ruth Reyes
Professor of Music
Florida Christian College

The call to holiness is a serious matter.  Contrast that with the call of contemporary culture to self-gratification, self-promotion, and self-glory.  The path towards godly and virtuous living nowadays becomes even more confounding and just plain difficult.  Still we hear the words of the Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 3:16, in what appears to be a seemingly tone of disbelief, “Do you not know [do you not get it; do I have to explain this to you one more time] that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (NASB)  We know that God lives within us, but what steps are we taking to ensure that our temple is kept holy?  God decided to take residence in our heart, in our very being.  We’ve got some work to do to keep the house clean.

Do you like to take out the garbage?   I don’t.  The garbage represents everything that you want out of your house: the trash, that which stinks, which is filthy, and that which, if not thrown away, will rot away in your home and will become dangerous to your health.  In order to maintain holiness health, we have to consistently empty out the garbage of our life.

Emptying ourselves of things that encumber us or slow us down in our walk with Jesus, of things that stink up our life is the first step.  Whether we acknowledge it or not, we replace God everyday with idols – people and things that we either substitute for God or supplement God as though God is not enough to be all that matters in life.

The human heart is an idol factory that takes good things like a successful career, love, material possessions, even family, and turns them into ultimate things. Our hearts deify them as the center of our lives, because, we think, they can give us significance and security, safety and fulfillment, if we attain them. – Timothy J. Keller in Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters

           

To keep ourselves pure, we’ve got to get rid of anything that we value more than God.  Cleansing is a daily process, just like taking the garbage out.  What do you value more than Jesus or who do you treasure more than God?  What consumes you?  What is your sin that needs to be emptied out, to be released?  Is it greed?  Is it keeping up with a certain lifestyle?  Is it being anxious about anything and everything?  Is it bitterness?  Is it anger?  Is it being discontented, complaining all the time?  Is it being conceited?  Is it being selfish?  What is your garbage?

           
After emptying out the junk, pay careful attention to keeping your body temple clean.  Let God fill you with His character, His ways, and His purpose.  Saturate your life with God’s word so you can resist the temptation to invite the garbage back into your life.  Recognize God’s active presence in your life.  Paul’s poetic encouragement in Phil. 4:8-9: “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.  The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me: practice these things.”

           
Just because I don’t like to take out the garbage doesn’t mean I don’t take my turn in taking it out.  But when I do, I remind myself that this chore runs parallel to the challenge of keeping my body temple holy.  I start reciting the verse with those rebuking words: do you not know.  It takes a lot of repetition and commitment.