God and His Temple

But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! – 1 Kings 8v27

Solomon had completed a solemn task.. God allowed Him to build a permanent dwelling place. After living in a tent for ages God now had His temple built. In a sense this would be God’s house. The priests would come here to meet God. Everyone would acknowledge that if you want to meet God you have to come to the Temple.

Solomon knew that it was mire complicated than that. Yes, in a sense the Temple would be the House of God, but in reality, as Solomon writes, ‘…heaven and the heaven on heavens cannot contain You. How much less this Temple?’

This must be a temptation in men’s minds. We must want our God to be some place special. The Jews had the Temple. Some Christians today see their church building as ‘God’s house’ today. The problem comes when we think that some how we can act differently in the Temple (or our church) than we do when we are away.

God is everywhere. He always has been. He is as much in my workplace as He is in my church. He is as much in my home as much as He is in my church. He is as much on the playing pitch as He is in my church. He is as much in my car as He is in my church.

I often here something like – ‘I would never do that in church.’ I understand that in one regard. There are things that are place appropriate. I, for example, am not going to clip my toenails on the Luas.

However, this is often an excuse to categorise our lives into church lives and non-church lives. We can think that certain behaviours (read sins) are okay if they are not in church. I can treat my family one way in the park, but not in church. I can say certain things in my car, but I would never do that in church. I can listen to certain jokes and stories at work, but I would not listen to the same ones in church.

Remember, God was not bound to the Temple. He is not bound to church. He is wherever we are.

In fact, but I don’t want to go on and on, have a look at 1 Corinthians 6v19-20 for another perspective – ‘…your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit…’