Yesterday, millions of Christians attended church services, held in buildings that are often called houses of worship. But unfortunately, we often refer to them as the “house of God”—an appellation caused by improperly comparing our places of worship to the Old Testament Temple where God’s Presence was, in point of fact, manifested. But in the New Covenant, you and I have become the house of God—“Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you…” (2 Cor. 6:19).
But knowing that a building cannot contain the Spirit of God has not prevented centuries of Christians from erecting grand cathedrals to house religious services. All the more curious that the current trend, at least in America, is to house our Christian worship services in ‘converted’ warehouses where we think nothing of taking a cup of coffee and a pastry into the worship service—an anathema when I grew up. You had too much respect for the building, even if you knew God didn't really live there!
This begs the question: how much respect do you have for the real house of God—your body? The eyes through which you are reading this page right now are the windows to the house of God. And your ears, its sound system. And everything your hands do, everywhere your feet go are happening in the sanctuary where God dwells. Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship (Rom. 12:1).
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