Not So Common

Not So Common

"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? 

You are not your own."

I Corinthians 6:19

Before the famous California gold rush, a young boy in North Carolina found a large yellow rock on his family's property. He and his parents must have found it interesting because they decided to keep it and use it as a doorstop. It wasn't until years later that a jeweler stayed with the family and quickly pointed out that their doorstop was actually a 17-pound gold nugget! Just think, for years that family had something of great value hiding away in their house, doing nothing more important than holding open a door!

We would never make that mistake, would we? Surely we would never take something so valuable and treat it as something so common, would we? Yet as Christians, we do, every single day.

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

Think about that for a minute. As followers of Christ, we house within us the Holy Spirit. That's a difficult concept for some to grasp. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the trinity--God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He is the part of God that takes residence within us when we choose to follow Christ. 

Jesus Himself said to His disciples in John 16:7, "It is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate (another name for the Holy Spirit) won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you."

The  Holy Spirit has many jobs. He is our supporter. He helps us to understand truth. He is our teacher. He convicts us of our sins but comforts us with His love. He is our counselor, prayer partner and intercessor. He is literally God within us. (See John 14 and John 16)

Galatians 5:22-23 says that the Holy Spirit produces within us "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."

Yet, how often do we treat this priceless gift of God like a doorstop in our hearts, a common thing that we occasionally pull out for Sunday morning worship? A prize hidden away, unclaimed and devalued. 

Just like the little boy from North Carolina, we aren't always intentional about this. It may be that we truly don't understand what we have. But, just like that little boy and his family, our ignorance costs us dearly. 

As humans, we are often powerless to many of the circumstances of our lives. We know God is powerful. We know God offers peace. We know God has what we need, but we forget that He has already given us the greatest gift of all--Himself! We just aren't cashing in on the gift. 

In order to benefit from the rock that he found, the little boy needed to do a couple of things. First, he needed to recognize the value of what he had. Second, he needed to cash it in. 

The same holds true for us as believers. First, we have to understand the power of the Holy Spirit in us, what He has to offer us. Then we need to put it to work for us. How do we do that?

1 Corinthians 19 AND 20 says, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."

This is the part that many Christians don't want to hear. This is the part where we sometimes make a conscious decision to keep that gift sitting in the corner collecting dust. You see, if we want to really claim the power of the Holy Spirit then we have to take action. 

Romans 8:1-17 tells us a lot about life in the Spirit. In part it says, "those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit." And "You have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit  you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live." And (most Christians' least favorite verse), "if we are to share His (Christ's) glory, we must also share his suffering." 

WHAT? Suffering? We aren't supposed to suffer, are we? After all, God wants us to be happy, right? Well, that's a whole other blog. The case in point here is that if we want to claim the power of the Holy Spirit who is living in us, then we have to DO the things that God wants us to Do. We have to ACT the way God wants us to act, and we even have to THINK the way God wants us to think. 

That's a challenge to be sure, but remember, we aren't doing it alone. Being used as a door stop didn't make the gold nugget any less valuable. It just brought no value to the boy and his family. So, let's remember, as believers we ALREADY have the treasure of the Holy Spirit. Let's not hide Him away. Claim the prize that God has given you today!

The Case of the Dumb Smart Phone

"...whatever you do, do it ALL for the glory of God."

1 Corinthians 10:31

This week, I took a monumental step. I decided to join the ranks of smart phone users. All things considered, I am a little behind. However, I have to say, my "dumb phone" has served me well. For years, it allowed me to call and be called, and eventually, when I finally gave in to the pressing demands of the modern world, I even updated it to text.  But curiosity finally got the better of me. I got tired of not being able to see the group texts between my family members, of wishing that I could see the precious pictures that were being shared with me, and of missing out on cool gadgets that measured the number of steps I take and how much sleep I get. So, I upgraded to a smart phone. 

Unfortunately, sometimes simple is better, and technology isn't all it's cracked up to be. For all its cool features, after two days, I still cannot send outgoing texts. Next to actual calling, this is, of course, a primary component of almost every cell phone these days. So, my smart phone doesn't seem to be so smart after all. 

As I borrowed my old "dumb phone" from my son to respond to a text I had received (while contemplating throwing my new phone across the room), God began to use this experience to bring to mind a very important truth. For all its bells and whistles, this new phone is failing to do the most simple task, one of the very basic things for which it was created. 

Hmm, isn't that just like me?

I am a Christian. That's pretty easy to say--at least here in America. But as such, I have been created in Christ to "do" certain things--the first of which is to glorify God. Isaiah 43:7 says that I was made for the glory of the One who created me. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says that whether I eat or drink I should "do it all for the glory of the God."   

What does that mean? It means that an essential part of why I was created is to bring honor to God by what I say and what I do. Just like my phone was created in order to help me communicate with other people, I was created to please God. Did you get that?  Before I consider what pleases me, before I consider what pleases my husband, my children, my boss or my friends, I have to consider what pleases God...in everything. The way I live should be pleasing first and foremost to God. 

My husband is working to fix my phone, and I have full confidence that he will. Eventually, I will be able to send texts, and my phone will once again be fully functional. And I will experience all the joys of being a smart phone owner.  But what about me?

As a Christian, I can appear to be doing everything I should (or shouldn't) do. I can wear the right kind of clothes and go to church every Sunday, and that's good. I can read my Bible and pray, and that's pretty awesome. I can even sing praises and say all the right things, and that's really amazing. But if I am not seeking God's will for my life and living the way He wants me to, then I am not doing my job. 

Now, you might say, "But those things do glorify the Lord." And you would be right, but those things aren't enough. 

You see, I can implement all the "fancy features" of Christianity into my life, but if I don't fully accomplish this one simple task then I am just as useless to the Lord as my current smart phone is to me. 

It doesn't mean that those things aren't good. After all, it's great that I can access my email on my smart phone. It's awesome that I can take pictures on it. It's pretty amazing that I can even listen to music on it. BUT if I can't return texts, then honestly, it's just not doing its job.

God doesn't want me to give Him only so much of my life. He wants it all. So, for me anyway, that means that I need to consider how I can honor Him more. How can I tell more people about Christ and His love? How can I more often use the talents God has given me for His glory? How can I reflect His magnificence more in my life? 

Just like my smart phone isn't really very useful to me now, I can only be truly useful to God when I give Him my all. Unfortunately, that's not something I like to think about. 

While I often seek more money in the bank, more bargains at the store, more success in my work, more peace in my home, more features in my technology, I don't often like to consider how I can give more of myself to the Lord. But that's exactly what I need because, you see, that's exactly what I was created to do. 

C.S. Lewis once wrote, "In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him." 

I don't want to be a dumb phone or a dysfunctional smart one. I want to serve the purpose for which I was created. I want to truly glorify my Lord in all things so that I might indeed enjoy Him and be enjoyed by Him more.