Rethinking what we should be about

Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. This idea has been taught for as long as I can remember. It seems, however, the motive for teaching that truth was less about what my body should be like and more about what I should not do with my body. I very vividly remember spending many Wednesday nights and summer camps discussing the myriad of things we were to abstain from because the Holy Spirit resides in us. We were to keep the temple holy. Back then it meant not smoking, drinking, or doing drugs. As long as we did not do those three things, then we were ok I guess. This week, those lessons have been coming back to my mind. At the time I did not realize how weak those arguments were, but they did keep me away from those things. Looking back, I wonder why no one ever taught that eating too much or never exercising was just as bad. It seemed like the focus was on not doing bad things rather than doing good things. Why is it that not doing certain things is often our focus? This is the nature of our lesson this week.

Our question to explore is this, “How can God be more at home in my life and church?” Through taking a new look at these Scriptures this week, I am convinced God is more at home in our lives when we are pursuing Him. Does that mean not doing certain things? Absolutely, but that is not our focus. If we are focused on Christ, and daily set our minds on following Him, how different would our lives look? How different would our churches look? Would the outside world look in and see something it didn’t have? This thought has stuck with me all week. It is a shame that the outside world looks in and sees people who are against all kind of things, without seeing a bunch of people who are for Christ. Take some time this week and think about where your focus is. Are you more concerned about not doing certain things? Or are you concerned with doing some things? Here is what I want to be about:

• Loving His Word
• Being transformed by His love
• Showing that love to others
• Teaching that love to my daughter
• Working with other followers of Christ to show that love to a dark and dying world

What about you? What are things you want your life to be about rather than against? Join the conversation! Ask your class to join in, too.