A DWELLING PLACE?
17th Jun 2020
You and I are living in a very broken world. We see people’s lives destroyed by violence and hopelessness, our natural world abused and also suffering, and we hear people saying, “Where is God?”
Revelation 21 tells us the end of the human story; that the dwelling place of God will once again be with men, He will destroy death, wipe away tears, take pain and crying away and make all things new. That’s the future.
What about today? God has come to dwell in the hearts of those who receive Jesus, and by His Spirit He is making us His dwelling place! It sounds incredible, and it is, but what one day He will do on the world stage He is doing now at the individual level - if we let Him. He wants to destroy death in you, wipe tears, take pain and fill you with His life giving Spirit.
1 Corinthians 15:45 says Jesus is “a life giving Spirit” and as He indwells us we can be changed into His likeness, not by self-effort, but by His life within growing fruit that reflects His very nature. We can choose to let Him fill us, dwell in us, and co-operate with Him, or live with limited human resources that so often fail us.
When Solomon was building the Temple for God, he used the best materials, lined everything with gold, no expense spared. However, without God’s presence it was simply a beautiful, expensive building. In 1 Kings 6:11, “The word of the Lord came to Solomon” and He promises to live among His people. But it is conditional on living the way God has set out, “following my decrees, observing my laws and obeying them”
It is the same for us, if we live with the attitude of finding out what pleases God, living in obedience to His commands, relying on the help of the Holy Spirit, we will know His indwelling life giving presence, and be changed into His likeness.
One of the reasons I enjoy the new translations of the Bible is because they rephrase very familiar passages and cause me to respond afresh. Look at Galatians 5 where Paul lists the works of the flesh (pretty horrible) and the life of the person indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit. It’s easy to quote the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace etc., but check out if these qualities are growing in you.
Galatians 5:22-23 in The Message says, “But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.”
by Joyce Sibthorpe
