Temple part 5
Jesus said He would tear down the temple and rebuild it in three days. That's what happened on the cross. That's what happened to us. We are the temple that He made without hands. We are the dwelling place of the living God. He lives in us. He lives through us. He lives as us. God expressed Himself to us in the person of Jesus. He expresses Himself through us every time we let what's inside come out. Every time we act in love. That's what charity is: Love in action. And that's WHY Jesus rebuilt the temple. He wanted it to hold HIS stuff--love--instead of all the traditions of man, or all the religious garbage that had accumulated over time. The Word (which is Jesus, which is love) became flesh and dwelt among us. And then the Word (Jesus, love) took up abode within us. So that the Word (Jesus... LOVE) could fill us up to overflowing and come out of us. That's the true purpose of the temple. It puts something on display. That's what we are. We are the visible face of the invisible God. We are what love looks like. Jesus said, "If you've seen me you've seen the Father." A Father's love for His Son. A Creator's love for His creation. This temple is not for hoarding anything either. Jesus kicked over the tables that were used to buy and sell religion. He wanted to make sure that we knew what it was really all about. And what its really all about... is love. Receiving it and releasing it. Receiving it BY releasing it. Letting what's inside come out. Naturally. By knowing and believing that its in there. I think one of the most important things about our memory verse for this Rant series (1 Corinthians 6:19) is the phrase, "...the temple of the Holy Ghost..." The Holy Spirit is our love receptor. He is what equips and empowers us to love... by leading and guiding us into the truth that we ARE loved. You can't give what you don't have, right? I keep saying it. So... well, let me say it like this: "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). And in the NLT it reads, "We love each other because he loved us first." See, we love Him BY loving each other. Jesus said whatever you do unto the least of them you do unto Him. How we treat others is how we treat God. Because God lives in us. He lives in me and He lives in you. So what comes out of me goes into you. We are connected on that love level. The deep calls out to the deep. We are all different parts of the same body. HIS body. Its HIS temple. The House of the Lord. The House of Love. And since I'm a temple, and you're a temple, together we make up the Kingdom. The Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of Love. In the beginning we were made in God's image. And then, on the cross, when Jesus rebuilt the temple, we were conformed to the image of God's beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. What was always true came to light as the light of the world shined on us, and in us, and through us. We ARE that light. We ARE that temple. Love is on display... in us! God's love. The love that He gave to us. So that we would have it. So that we could share it. We love God by loving each other. By laying our lives down for each other. By letting what's inside come out. By letting God love us so big and so hard that we couldn't keep His love inside the temple if we tried. Its too big. Its too good. God loved the hell out of us so that we could love the hell out of each other!