God’s Greatest Temple

Out of all of the great temples and churches ever built, the greatest temple is YOU! Billions of dollars are spent every year all around the world to maintain and preserve the great iconic structures dedicated to God. What will you do this coming year to preserve God’s greatest dwelling place of all, which is you?

Are we ever truly content in our human body? God created us both body and spirit. Too often our actions seem to reflect that we treat our body as our enemy. We seem to always be fighting some battle against our fleshly desires. Do we really stop to remember that both our body and our spirit will live on for eternity?

The list of our bodily battles is seemingly endless. In what way are you ignoring or destroying God’s Temple? Are you over eating, under eating, eating an unhealthy diet, using drugs, using cigarettes or other tobacco products, abusing alcohol, under exercising, over exercising, engaging in sexually inappropriate behavior, watching pornography, ignoring the advice of doctors regarding treatments for health issues, depriving yourself of adequate sleep? The list could go on and on.

For the younger generations who read my weekly messages can I ask this, do the tattoos and piercing that you already have or the ones you are thinking of getting reflect the theological understanding that your body is the temple of God? Would the images that you have chosen to permanently ink onto your skin be appropriate to be on display in one of the world’s great Christian churches?  This topic touches close to home. I have had this discussion with all three of my sons who have chosen, like many people today, to have several tattoos.  I must say their view on this issue is radically different than mine.

Can we at least all agree that far too often we mistreat our bodies in some form or fashion? From a spiritual perspective we cannot view our bodies as bad. As already stated, they are temples of God. I have written about this topic before but it is worth another look now as we begin a new calendar year.

Every Sunday, Catholics recite the creed. Included in that creed are these words: “For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.” Let’s take a moment to investigate the word “incarnate.”

The term “incarnation” means “taking on flesh.” The Nicene Creed makes it clear that Jesus didn’t just appear out of nowhere with a body. The beginning of John’s Gospel tells us that the “word” became “flesh.” It is important to note that the incarnation did not take place solely as an action of the Holy Spirit. Mary the virgin had to also consent to God’s plan. Mary was an active participant in bringing God into the flesh.

It is a really strange concept when you think about it. God’s Holy Spirit, united to Mary’s human spirit, became the temple through which God would redeem the world. God must think that the human body is pretty important! The God who created everything in the universe chooses to have our bodies as His temple today.

Now back to the beginning. Every year at this time people make lists of New Year’s resolutions. Most of these resolutions are good and in fact, they usually address many of the struggles listed in my litany above.  While these resolutions are good, do any of us choose them in an effort to stop defiling the temple of God? Would our probability of achieving our New Year’s resolutions increase if our goal was not merely changing some bad habit but instead was the preservation and upkeep of God’s chosen dwelling place?

So as we press forth with our New Year’s resolutions, perhaps each of us can place a heightened awareness on seeing our bodies as the temple of God. Let’s keep this thought fresh in our mind as we work on our new goals. My hope is that through prayer, reliance of Jesus Christ and hard work you will see the changes you desire in the coming year.

Dear Heavenly Father please help me to internalize the message that is written in 1 Corinthians 6:19: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” Amen.

Feel free to comment below, I love to hear from you. Click here to send me an email.

A VERY IMPORTANT REMINDER FOR THE COMING YEAR

I want to thank everyone for your continued readership and financial support for Broken Door Ministries this past year. This ministry only grows when people like you share each week’s message with others. Please continue to share these messages by forwarding them onto your friends, posting them onto your Facebook page and liking Broken Door Ministries on our Facebook page.

Finally, I need your help. I want to come to your church or Christian gathering to provide a talk or an all-day retreat in 2017. This will only happen if you take the initiative. I invite you to tell the person who is responsible at your church or group for bringing in outside speakers about our ministry. I would love to see you in the coming year. Click here to see some of the testimonials from previous places I have been. You can also click here to see reviews from two of the pastors that brought me in to speak to their churches.  There are dates still available. If interested, please fill out the speaking inquiry.

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Brian Pusateri

Brian is a Christian author and speaker. Brian, a lifelong Catholic, felt his life was forever changed when God spoke to his heart while attending an eight day silent Christian retreat in November of 2011. Soon after that retreat Brian founded 4th Day Letters and Broken Door Ministries. With the God inspired message of mercy and unconditional love that was placed on his heart during that retreat, Brian has been impacting others all over the country and around the world with his weekly letters, his talks, and his all day Christian retreats. In June of 2014, Brian’s life was again impacted in a very dramatic way when his eyesight suddenly became permanently impaired. The initial diagnosis was Multiple Scleroses (MS) but in December of 2019 the diagnosis was corrected to MOG antibody disease, a rare neurological disease. This health challenge has only served to draw Brian closer to God and bolster the importance of this timely yet ageless message.

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