Today’s post is by my sister-in-law, Mallory Patrick.  Mallory is a woman of many hats and three cats (Mama Cat, Baby Cat, and Big Tom).  Among her hats are Bible school teacher, conference speaker, author/editor, cross-stitcher, and flute-player.   Recently, Mallory was asked to develop a Bible curriculum for Freedom Christian Academy in Arizona.  What follows is an excerpt from the curriculum entitled “Christ in You Fundamentals.”   The reading level is for kids.  The spiritual level is for those who want to become like kids (Matt. 18:3).  Christaslife.com also features writings and audio-teachings by Mallory.  Please take advantage of these rich resources!

Christ in You–Temple

Everybody wants to have a home.  It is where we feel like we belong.  It is a shelter and a safe place, a place where we can relax and just be ourselves with others we know and love.  When we asked Jesus to come into our hearts, He lives inside of us.  We become His home!

The Bible has a lot to say about God having a home.  In the Old Testament, Israel built Him a temple.  They called it His house, and He lived there, right in the middle of His people (cf. I Ki. 8:10-13).  Israel’s life revolved around that temple.  Everyone in the country went there to celebrate feasts and offer sacrifices.  They had to work their everyday lives around the fact that God lived in them!

The Temple in the Old Testament was just a sketch or a pattern of what God really had in mind for a home (cf. Heb. 8:5).  God does not really want to live in a manmade structure of rocks and wood but in a house that He made by His Spirit (cf. Eph. 2:22).  In order to build the home He really wants, God uses us for His materials, and the Holy Spirit does the work.

We know that Jesus died on the Cross for the forgiveness of our sins.  But did you know that there were also many other reasons for the Cross, one of them being that He might build Himself a house?  When we were sinners, we were God’s enemies.  When Jesus died, He took everything about us that was against Him, so it died too.  When He was raised from the dead, there was nothing left between us and Him that could make Him unhappy with us (cf. Eph. 2:15-16).  Now He can live in us!  That is exactly what Ephesians chapter two goes on to say.  First, Jesus died to put our enmity to death.  Now, we are His home (Eph. 2:22).

God is not angry with people for the things we have done.  Anything that made us God’s enemies was crucified with Christ.  Now those people who have asked Jesus into their hearts are brand new, and He wants to be in a brand new relationship with them.  We are God’s home.  We are the place were He belongs.  We are the place He can come to relax and be Himself with the ones He knows and loves.

Do you remember how Israel’s life revolved around God living in the Temple?  That was just an example!  God lives in us, and our lives can be all about Him – even the humdrum, everyday parts of our lives!  Jesus does not just live in us on Sundays, or during special events.  Now, everything we do and everywhere we go, He can be part of it.

We are God’s house, and we belong to Him now.  II Corinthians 6:16 says that no one else should get to live inside of us but Him.  Idols are just things that want to be the boss instead of letting God be the boss.  Why would we let other things boss God around in His own house?  This verse says that He wants to live and walk in us.  Jesus needs room to move around in there!

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Find the complete text of “Christ in You Fundamentals” by Mallory Patrick here.