What? Know ye not...

Over Christmas break I had the privilege to go to Pompeii with my very good friend from Naples, Italy. The site was enormous and the ruins hinted at once extravagant buildings. If one thing was clear, if one thing was to be taken away from that experience, it was this, these people cared about their gods.

Even more important were the temples, around which their lives revolved. I’m talking meticulous detail people. There is no price tag on how much such a temple could cost.

This struck me in a very powerful way. Temples have always been important to civilizations throughout time. With Jesus perhaps came the eradication of these buildings being so significant. We can see in the gospels the outrage when He said the Temple would be destroyed. Definitely to the Jews at the time His words were indeed blasphemous.

But Jesus continues, we see in the rest of the verse in John 2:19, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”.

Maybe his disciples expected Him to be speaking of a new building, a new temple. Maybe that’s why they were disappointed when Jesus was crucified. If we go to the letters of Paul we discover something actually quite revolutionary.

Through His disciple Paul we are informed of a new dwelling place for His spirit, our bodies!

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (KJV)

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is within you, whom you have [received as a gift] from God, and that you are not your own [property]? 20 You were bought with a price [you were actually purchased with the precious blood of Jesus and made His own]. So then, honor and glorify God with your body. (AMP)

If I really believe that my body is not my own to do with it what I will, I would treat it quite differently. I struggled with sweets for a very long time and could always “justify” having them. The mind is amazing at justifying every whim. But with this knowledge that my body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, I must make changes. More on that later.