The Glory of God - Part 2

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you. (2 Corinthians 6:14-17 ESV). In the Old Testament, the glory of the Lord did not reside within man. It was seen in His creation, and it was hosted in the man-made temple, but it was not within the hearts of men. When Jesus came, and the temple veil was torn from top to bottom, God’s glory began to live within the hearts of men. The temple made with human hands was no longer needed to host the glory of God. I cannot read that phrase, “for we are the temple of the living God”, without being humbled by the fact that God’s light to the world now lives within us. At Pentecost, when the new Christians were still freshly mourning the death of Jesus, the promised Holy Spirit of God came into the hearts of Christians. Those who had believed in Christ suddenly became the habitat for the Spirit of God. They became the literal temple of God. And the same thing happens today as we experience the grace of God through faith in Christ. God’s glory resides within us. I wonder how clean your temple is? Are there places within the temple of yours where God obviously does not feel welcome? Knowing that sin, any sin, separates God from man, we should realize that the sin within our heart has kept God from fully indwelling our being. Paul expresses this when he said, “the good I want to do I do not do and the those things I don’t want to do, I do.” Does that apply to you? Today would be a good day to ask God to open the areas of your life so that he would be completely welcome in your life! Wouldn’t it be wonderful if his glory could shine so bright in your life that others would experience Christ through it? Perhaps its time for a little fall tune-up! Then you might really be ready for the glory of God to live within you fresh and new! Max Lucado wrote: If there are a thousand steps between us and God, he will take all but one. He will leave the final one for us. The choice is ours. What’s it going to be for you today?