More Important Than A Building

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

In my years as a born again follower of Christ, the one thing that I have observed is that we, sadly, take better care of a church building than we do the temple of the Holy Spirit...our bodies. As much as it is comfortable to have a nice building to meet in, I truly believe that the enemy has caused us to think that somehow having a nice church building is what is going to build God's church. Yet, I see in other countries, that God's church (the people) is growing, without the ability for them to meet in an "actual" church building. I cannot help but think that the monies we throw away maintaining a structure, that has now taken on more importance than the actual temple of the Holy Spirit, can actually be used to support missions and other activities that God can use to reach the lost. With that said, I certainly praise God that He has used a number of local churches at their meeting places to win the lost and encourage believer, and in rare cases these days, use the building to feed and provide shelter. However, I have to step back and even ask myself, do I take care of, and put as much importance and priority in, my body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit? We take care of the church building because we have dubbed it "God's House"; yet, we are careless with the Holy Spirit's temple when it comes to keeping it from being stained with our sinful behaviors and attitudes. Just like we are careful with the church building because it belongs to God, we must be even more careful with the temple that Jesus purchased with His own Blood, for our redemption. So, the next time we are tempted to use the Holy Spirit's temple for something other than glorifying God, we may want to step back and prayerfully reconsider what we are about to do or partake in.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).