My Body, A Temple

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?"  1 Corinthians 6:19

Jesus was raised from the dead in his physical body. He was changed somehow. His closest friends did not recognize him. But according to the Gospel of John, chapter 20, his disciples knew him when he showed them the wounds in his hands and side. 

Jesus' body was maimed and injured. The resurrection did not take that away. Those injuries made him who he was: The beloved of God, and the victim of humanity's hatred and violence.

Some of the wounds we acquire in this lifetime stay with us, and make us who we are.

But we are more than that. We are more than physical bodies, injured, ailing, aging, imperfect. 

We are God's temple. We are not our own. We are God's. 

I believe everything we have was given us by God, and it was given with a purpose and a responsibility. Our bodies deserve care and reverence, as any sacred space. Our bodies are God's way of being present in this world. They are vessels of God's love and temples of the holy Spirit. God wants us to use them to build God's reign in this world. 

How would you live if you believed that?