A simple devo this morning, just to serve as a reminder. Let’s start with the text…

 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)

Idols were worshipped “as” god. You have to say it like that because, in truth, there is only one God. There are many things that might be called gods (1 Corinthians 8:5), but there is, in fact, only one (1 Corinthians 8:6). Idols are the antithesis of God Himself. They are created; He is Creator. They are worshipped with hands; He is worshipped with heart. They are deaf and dumb; He listening and speaking. They are dead and unproductive; He is living and active. By the very nature of both, what agreement can there be between the Temple of God and the Temple of Idols? They are polar opposites.

What is the temple of an idol? It is any monument built to serve an idol. It is any construction made in order to exalt something which God has made. It is a rallying point for the unsaved. It is a house for impure things.

What is the temple of God? It is you. You are made to serve Him. You were constructed in order to exalt Him. Your body belongs to the body of the saved. You are His Temple, therefore there can be no place in the Christian heart for the doctrines of idols (false teaching). We are the Temple, as Paul quotes in the text above: “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” That reference is actually taken from Leviticus 26:11-12, but of course, back then it was referring to the Old Testament building. It means something more (something greater) today. God has made us—His Christians—His Temples today. It is a perfected form of what was done in the Old Testament, when God’s presence was manifested in the old physical Tabernacle and later, the permanent Temple. Now He can dwell directly in the hearts of His saints.

We are His Temple.

We had better keep ourselves pure.

~Matthew