Last summer I read Simply Christian by N.T. Wright, in it he claimed that we are the new temple of God. This wasn't a new revelation to me I had read 1 Corinthians. Then he went on to describe all the things that it meant to be a temple of God. He said that the temple was the place where heaven( the place that God dwells) and earth overlap. Kind of a transcending place between two dimensions. In reading John 7:37-38 Jesus says "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." Jesus is claiming to be the new temple and promising to make us the new temple has well.The implication is that now we as followers of Christ have become the place where heaven and earth over lap. I don't know about you but this excited me and bothered me all at the same time.
It is a pretty lofty thought that I am the temple of God the place where Heaven and earth over lap. Wow! The problem is I am an overlap in the dimensons of heaven and earth, and if people want to see God thay can look at me as this was God's intention for true humanity.......but I am fallen, yucky, full of false motives and less than what God intended me to be as a human. The reality is though that I am the Temple of God through Jesus Christ the place where heaven and earth overlap. It is a reality I need to explore more.
2 comments:
I agree - I guess that's one of the beautiful things about His mercy/grace - in that in spite of our brokenness, in spite of all that we are filled with that is not of Him, there is this part of a spirit filled life - a temple still open and functioning if you will - that radiates through all the debris and directs others to Him.
Still a scary thought though...
That was my favorite part of the whole book, when Tom Wright talked about being the new temple.
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