And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (2 Corinthians 6:16)
I read this verse, and it hit me powerfully. I read other Bible translations, but the King James Version illuminated the meaning the best.
“I will dwell in them, and walk in them”
Yikes! God is walking in me. He is walking in you. What does He see?
I guess on some level I knew this. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, and God knows every thought and action even before they occur. In a way I have been holding on to the idea that I had some control over when and how I let God in, especially the times I was thinking/doing something He wouldn’t approve of. Even then He is walking inside my temple.
He sees my dirt and grime. Am I giving Him a place He would want to stay?
Our homes have locked doors. When people knock, we can choose if or how they will enter our home. We could keep them standing on the front porch without opening our doors. We could open the door a crack and make them stand there while we talk. We could invite them into our entry way or front room that shows a level of cleanliness we are not embarrassed by and hoping this will provide the illusion that the rest of the house looks the same. Or we can have them come inside and wander the house without any fear of what they find.
A locked door won’t stop God from entering. We can’t keep Him waiting on the front porch or only show Him what we want Him to see. We can’t create an illusion to make Him believe the rest of our thoughts and actions are just as clean as the ones we are willing to show Him.
When we accept God as our Father and His Son as our Savior, our temples come with no doors or windows. As Christians, we need to shine a light on our dark corners and sweep out the cobwebs that still lurk inside. We can’t harbor darkness and accept bits of sin and evil into our lives because we create a space that does not welcome God.
“I will dwell in them, and walk in them”
This was a game changer for me in how I viewed my relationship with God. There is no more hiding or covering up with sprays and perfumes. He will see through it all and loves us anyway, so let’s offer up our hurts for His help and sins for His forgiveness. He doesn’t want us cluttering our temples but rather clearing them out so we can walk with Him along a clear and unobstructed path.
We no longer need to be ashamed by the state of our lives. God specializes in difficult and He specializes in our messes. The only one we are fooling is ourselves. God already knows what we have done, are doing, and will do.
Let’s give it all to Jesus who is truly the only one who can cleanse our temples. We have no need to hide.