Your Body Is His Temple

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. So you must honor God with your body.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

What kind of church do you go to? Is it white with a cross on top? Is it a large brick building? It may have a fellowship hall where meals are served or a gym where games take place. Your church plays an important part in your life. You may go just for worship services, or there may be other activities that take place there during the week.

In Bible times people had the Temple to go to. It was an important place. Solomon, King David’s son, built the Temple as a place to put the Ark of the Covenant, which held the Ten Commandments. David had wanted to build the Temple, but God told him, “You must not build a Temple to honor my name, for you are a warrior and have shed much blood” (1 Chronicles 28:3). The magnificent Temple in Jerusalem had both an outside part for the people, an inside part where the priests served, and an even holier place where God dwelled.

The Temple was a holy place where God dwelled among his people. It was set apart for him. Your body is the temple of God’s Holy Spirit, and he asks you to keep yourself clean and pure for him. By valuing your body, you are honoring God, who created you and redeemed you.

Paul wrote to the church at Corinth to tell them that they were God’s temple and that the Holy Spirit lived in them. As a princess of God, you have the same promise that the Holy Spirit dwells in you. He helps you live in a way that honors God. He gives you comfort and courage. He gives you strength and power to have the victory over sin.

Look online or in a Bible dictionary to find a picture of Solomon’s Temple. Can you locate the Holy Place? You may want to make a sketch of it to remind you that God’s Spirit dwells in you just as God dwelled among his people in the Temple. What things can you do to value your body—his temple?