Made for Glory

MADE FOR GLORY

 
Recently I wrote about how we too often view ourselves negatively--like a dirt bag! But that’s not God’s perspective.  We are ‘fearfully, wonderfully made! (Ps.130:13-14) God mad us in His own image, it says in Genesis. Paul, himself, said “Don’t you know that you are a TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT!?”  (1COR.6:19-20) A Temple!

 
The person God made is perfect. That is, perfectly as God intended each to be for the mission assigned to us from birth. (That could be another article) We are not made to physically resemble God, because that would be impossible, but we are made with many of His attributes. The essence of God is love.  We are love and to be love to others.  His love is pure, unconditional and contains all the characteristics Paul described in  1 Corinthians 13.  God is love. God is kind. God is not full of Himself. God is humble. God is truth. God is patient, forgiving and merciful. God is just. That’s the one we’d like to forget. God’s justice will always prevail in the end. No one escapes that. So in love there is no room for revenge or violence in the human heart, as God originally created it.

 
Most people love babies. Babies are vulnerable, innocent, dependent. There is no evil in them. They may learn that later. And “woe to him who causes these little ones to sin (Mt 19:6) It would be better for him to... be drowned in the sea.”  When I hold a baby I feel like I am truly looking into the purity and holiness of God’s eyes. This is the innocence we are designed to preserve in ourselves in preparation for our ultimate destiny, Heaven.  Sadly, few retain it.

 
In recent decades we’ve heard it said, “I’m my own man!” “It’s my body, my choice.” “I’ll do it MY way.” “I write my own destiny,” Well, in many ways the later is true. But this body isn’t mine, it’s a loaner for my earthly sojourn.  You see a craftsman makes an object and it belongs to him. He can treasure it or trash it as he wishes.  But I didn’t make me. My parents played a rule but it was God who breathed life into my being. I am God’s creation and every fiber , bone and nerve belongs to HIM.

My task is to care for it well and use every part of me for it’s intended purpose.  It would be unthinkable to use the neck of a Stradivarius violin for a club, its strings to tie up corn stalks or its body to store acorns! What disrespect and ingratitude to the artisan who created it. We too,  must work hard to prevent any violation of the body--The Temple of the Holy Spirt.

 
But man in his arrogance, uses his intellect to create weapons of destruction, bio-weapons, a one world economy, dictator states and twisted truths until truth is unrecognizable. He uses his will to choose pride, power and pleasure. These are the tools of the Father of Lies. It’s not too late to change, take control of our lives. The alternative is venereal disease, HIV, AIDS, ruined wombs, shame and guilt.  We are better than that, to allow ourselves to be ruled by our basest passions. We can be what we were designed to be -- images of God!

The Father of Truth  made our bodies to be glorious temples of His very Presence in the Holy Spirit. Not a temple to be glorified by others.  We need to reject the lies that we are not loved or precious or worthy.  WE ARE!  We were fearfully, wonderfully made for a greater destiny than we can ask or imagine!  This life, we hold so dear, is not all there is. Ours is be be sons and daughters of God, heirs to the Kingdom of God.  

Who doesn’t fantasize, from time to time, about receiving a grand, unexpected inheritance discovering perhaps that we are related to royalty. Well we are royalty. Christ the King is our brother.   God has prepared a far greater inheritance for the sons and daughters of the King; more than you can ask or imagine. Yet man settles for  illicit bodily pleasures, fleeting wealth and corrupted power. God desires our temple to be undefiled, pure and innocent on our wedding day.  If we are not called to marriage then we are still called to holy virginity.  This not a calling for the weak. As sons and daughters of God we are already royalty and should live out our lives as a true reflection of God’s glory. 

In my growing up there were two messages ingrained in us; Never disgrace the family name and remember who you are: A Child of God.     If I want that eternal crown of glory I need to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. The road to Hell is slippery.  Morality, lived in sacrificial love, versus selfish love, is hard but the pay off is well worth it because I have been made a tabernacle, a temple of the Most High God.

 
We are so repulsed by pedophilia and child trafficking because it violates that sacred temple of holy innocence. But promiscuous  sex, rape, fornication, adultery etc. all violate the same temple of the Holy Spirit.   The temple has been violated and not used for its intended purpose. Just used. Both victim and perpetrator are damaged and deep wounds are left.  

 
It is time for a cultural shift toward protecting our sons and daughters, wives and mothers by the example of our lives.  First by screening any kind of filth from entering our homes. There is so  much sin and temptation bombarding all of us in music, literature, media, movies, pornography and women’s attire.  You have to admire the Amish who shun a very corrupt society. However it’s not too late to turn our lives and our culture around. It starts with prayer for purity of heart and mind.  The Lord does answer prayers.  Then clean house; remove all things that may be offensive to God. Screen it all through the eyes of the Blessed Virgin.  Would she look at this, buy that, wear this etc.?

 
If we say we are one nation under God then it should be reflected in thought, word, deed, buying, watching, and especially voting. America is not beyond the point of no return. If Ninevah could  change so can we.  Be not afraid.