If you have been following my devotions for a while, you probably are aware that I love to you insightful quotes to help provide a backdrop into the theme that I am covering. As I was reading the following quote from Nancy Leigh DeMoss I became fascinating by the phrase “temple appropriate.” According to DeMoss: “True reverence is more than a transient feeling. It involves being ever mindful of God’s presence and honoring Christ by being “temple-appropriate” in everything you do.”1
I believe that if we make it our passion and goal in life to reverence God in everything we do then we will automatically be temple appropriate in our thoughts and behavior before our almighty Lord. Before I share some thoughts on what temple appropriate means I would like to share some comments on what true reverence looks like.
Reverence to me implies that we treat the Lord with deep honor and respect because not only is He awesome in power and majesty, but because He is so loving toward us, His children, and the perfect standard of holiness. Is it any wonder when Jesus shared with His disciples how to pray, He started His model prayer with the phrase: “…Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.” (Matthew 6:9). Hallowed means “set apart as holy.” And when you understand how holy the Lord is, reverence for God should become the deepest desire of our heart.
When I fully realized that God is omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing) and omnipresent (present everywhere), I became totally blown away how this awesome God demonstrated His enormous love for me by sending His Son to die to redeem me from eternal death. My friends when we grasp this amazing thought, holy reverence should be our automatic response. When finite, (you and me) meets with infinite, (our holy God) a holy sense of awe (reverence) should always be our response.
Now that we have a glimpse of what reverence is I would like to turn to this phase: “temple appropriate.”
First, (I Corinthians 3:16) lets us know: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” When you are in Christ the Spirit of God dwells in you. Can you imagine that God thinks so highly of you that He chooses to live inside of you thus making you His temple. When we accept Christ into our lives the Holy Spirit immediately makes His abode inside of us. As a result, we should live our lives by allowing the Holy Spirit to run them. He is a wonderful guide and will never make a bad decision if we let Him lead. So, don’t quench or grieve the Holy Spirit but instead, as the temple of God, let your life reflect God’s glory to a world in desperate need of the light of Christ. In other words be temple appropriate at all times.
Second, when we are temple appropriate our thoughts, words, and behavior must always attempt to show forth the image of our majestic God. I love how Nancy Leigh DeMoss put it: “God want us to put Him on display, so that everyone who looks at us sees the beauty of His image. It’s a profound honor and responsibility to bear the image of God.”2
And third, being a temple appropriate servant of the Lord means adopting the following three verse lifestyle: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
So, Christian what about you? Are you temple appropriate? After all the Bible says that you are the temple of God. And as image bearers of God we need to let our light always shine for Jesus!
1 Inspirational Quotes by Nancy Leigh DeMoss – page 5 (bibleportal.com)
2 Nancy Leigh DeMoss – God want us to put Him on display, so that… (bibleportal.com)