For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
“I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.”
2 Corinthians 6:16
Both my parents were school teachers, and for many years they decided to pay for a house cleaning service. The cleaning ladies, as we called them, would come on Fridays and dust, mop, scrub, vacuum— all that good stuff that full-time working parents have a hard time keeping up with. We always teased Mom because she would make us clean up for the cleaning ladies, but it makes sense to me now that we needed to put things away so they could do their job.
I’ve also had the less pleasant experience of my husband trying to clean my areas for me. If anyone were to touch the mess (and it’s a big one) on my desk, I would go into a bit of a panic. How am I going to find all my stuff if someone moves it?!
We love for someone else to clean up our mess… to a point. But we might not want someone digging too deep into “our stuff.”
In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis makes a brilliant comparison along these lines as to how God works in our lives:
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”
Along the same line, I can imagine inviting God over to help me redecorate my living room. He accepts, and so of course I tidy up the space beforehand, like we used to do for the cleaning ladies. I don’t want my things in the way of His work.
God comes and I show Him the living room. I can see in His eye as He looks around, listening and nodding, that He’s getting ideas. I can’t wait to hear His recommendations.
Then He turns around and heads to my bathroom. I follow, trying to explain that I don’t need help in there. But He starts rummaging through my cabinets, then turns and walks into my closet. He’s digging through my stuff and muttering thoughtfully, “Mmmm hmmm.” And I say, louder this time, “Lord! What are you doing? I just wanted your advice about the living room!”
We love for God to clean up our mess… to a point. But there comes a point where we don’t want God messing with our mess. Some things we don’t want Him to find. And some things we don’t want Him to change.
Surely Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians in 3:14-19 would be his prayer for us, that God “may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith… that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” The idea that God— Father, Son, and Holy Spirit— will come and dwell in us may be a bit frightening, but it’s also exciting.
There’s no point in tidying up first. If we’re to become a fit dwelling place for God, we have to let Him do His work– let Him see everything, let Him clean, and let Him throw things out! Then He can build, renovate, improve, and perfect.
Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20a NLT
I bow my knees to You, Father, and pray that according to the riches of Your glory, You would grant me to be strengthened with power through Your Spirit in my inner being, so that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith—that I, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend… to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that I may be filled with all Your fullness. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
by Christie Cole Atkins
Walk Worthy 