In Your Midst
READ
I don't know about you, but the Holy Spirit can be a little difficult for me to comprehend. I've grown up around Christian teaching my whole life, and it still baffles me. So I can only imagine how confused the Corinthian Christians must have been — some of the earliest followers of Jesus who ever existed. Think about how hard it would have been to start following the ways of Jesus before the New Testament had been written, before online devotionals existed, and before podcasts, preachers, and books were readily available. That's why Paul often speaks to the Corinthians like children, patiently explaining the most basic principles of faith over and over again. In 1 Corinthians 3, he reminds them:
"Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst?" — 1 Corinthians 3:16
REFLECT
Before Paul's reminder, the Corinthians were probably not thinking of themselves as temples. They lived in a world full of literal temples dedicated to all kinds of gods — physical buildings where people performed rituals of worship. That concept would have been completely normal to them. So to hear it flipped on its head, to be told that they were the temples, would have been jarring. It might be a little like someone walking up to you today and saying, "Don't you know that you yourself are a grocery store?" Totally lost.
So what did Paul mean? Was he saying there's a literal place of ritual inside our bodies? A tiny altar built somewhere into our skeletons? Of course not. To be God's temple is simply to be a place where His Spirit dwells.
If you're anything like me, your first reaction might be a sense of unworthiness. I certainly don't feel like a holy dwelling place by nature. On many days, the contents of my heart seem better suited for a bargain bin than a sacred temple. But Scripture is clear — His Spirit is not something we earn. Being a temple of the Holy Spirit isn't the result of us manufacturing our own holiness first. The Spirit is God's free gift to all who follow Jesus. It's the Spirit living in us that creates holiness, not the other way around. We don't have to be perfect to invite Him in.
So if we don't have to earn it, and we don't have to be perfect — what does it actually mean? It means that through Jesus' sacrifice and God's perfect design, we get invited to be part of God's dwelling place here on earth. Theologian N.T. Wright put it this way: "Those in whom the Spirit comes to live are God's new Temple. They are, individually and corporately, places where heaven and earth meet."
What a privilege — to host His Holy Spirit, and to let Him shape us from the inside out. Yes, we are unworthy. But we are made worthy through Christ. And we no longer have to define ourselves by our unworthiness alone, but by the Spirit who lives within us. When we begin to see ourselves as the dwelling place of God, we can look at ourselves — and at each other — with grace, gratitude, joy, and peace.
RESPOND
Take a moment to process what God might be leading you to do in light of what you've read.
Do you tend to think much about the Holy Spirit's role in your life, or is it something you haven't given a lot of thought? Spend some time sitting with what it means that His Spirit can actually dwell within you.
Is there a way you need to see yourself — or your fellow believers — differently, now that you think of them as temples of God's Spirit?
Invite the Holy Spirit to make His presence known to you more deeply this week, and ask God for greater guidance and understanding.
REST
Take a moment to rest in God's presence. Consider one thing you want to carry with you from your time in His Word, then close your devotional by praying:
Father, thank You for Your perfect design. Thank You for reconciling me through Christ, so that I can know Your Holy Spirit. Shape me as You dwell in me, and make Your presence known. I love You and I trust You. Amen.
Port City writer Tara Adams wrote today’s devotional.