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Has someone ever asked you this question? What was your response?

Where does the world think God lives?  Where can God be found?

The majority will probably say that He is found in the church building, where a priest resides, and that the dividing line between this world and the spiritual world is the moment you go through the door.

This is when we “good christian folk” change our behavior, take on a religious pose and become the epitome of reverence. It is as if this all become part and parcel with putting on our “Sundays best”. We then cannot wait to get into our normal clothes again so we can get back to our real lives and “normal” living.

To illustrate my point, I am sure you have seen the drug boss or kingpin of crime going to the church building and suddenly transforms into this very religious guy as he enters the building, yet outside he makes even the devil blush (if that was possible) with his heinous crimes and wicked behavior.

Is this not how people in our sphere of influence see us as well? How we put on Christianity like our “Sundays best” and then take it off again. That is what actors do! A soldier can wear even a nurses uniform, yet that doesn't change the fact of who he is, and similarly our Christianity should not be an outside set of things we do or don't do, but rather a people abiding in Christ bearing fruit as His life enters ours and our actions changing as a consequence of this fellowship and union (John 15).

Let's see what James says about the tongue (which is a good barometer of our thinking and what the state of our hearts are):

James 3:9–10 (ESV)

9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

Now, where would this come from? How do we change this? Why this separation between what is sacred and what is secular (worldly)?

One thing that most religions have in common is that in order to separate this physical world from the spiritual is to build a “sacred” home for their gods. Since ancient times we find them setting up some temple or “sacred” building in which they place these gods that they worship and will even  put priests in service to perform certain religious duties or sacred rituals required to keep this separation. These buildings/temples or shrines then forms the very place where the separation comes between the secular and the sacred...this physical world and the spiritual world.

Like the Israelites being afraid of God, rather wanting Moses to be their spokesman, so they want the pastor or priest to speak to God on their behalf.

So, why did Christ come then? Why was the temple curtain torn from top to bottom? What does the Word refer to when it says that we are now the priesthood in an unmediated relationship with God?

One of the greatest benefits to believers as a consequence of the life and death of Christ is that we can now stand in this unmediated relationship to God. Which means, that we have access to God any time and any day through prayer. That we can have fellowship with the living God. 

Not to live like pagans in the week and become “angels” when we enter our sacred dwelling on a Sunday, but rather bear fruit of our repentance; not just feeling sorry but changing the way we live through the power that He gives on a daily basis as a result of this fellowship. Not to live double lives as if our God is contained in a specific building or in a specific place as the woman at the well of Samaria thought (John 4).

Many unsaved people will probably not come with me to a church building or church meeting, unless it is a funeral or a wedding. This puts them in grave danger then, for their only chance for salvation is to enter the sacred dwelling place of God, which they are not too keen on.

Yet, as Christians we are with them all the time and have limitless opportunity to make The Only Living God known to them. As He has determined the time and place of our dwelling so He has also given us infinite opportunities to make His glory known right where we are.

Why are we not using this opportunity?

Our conduct is probably no different from theirs and as a result our lives are not beckoning a question as to why we are different. Plainly, we don't live like citizens from another kingdom.

The good news is that today is the day that I can be a different person. Someone may argue with your beliefs, but not with your testimony of God and the reason for your way of life. And, one of the hallmarks of my heavenly citizenship is that I am now a temple of the living God and my life is supposed to be a testimony of this. Anything that has life, will grow, how much more the life of God inside of us. We need to remove anything and everything that obscures Christ from shining out of us! Daily making the decision to bring Him glory in everything, everywhere and to everyone.....

Living temples...

God says that He doesn't live in temples built by human hands as if He can be contained by them, but lives in the believer through His Holy Spirit which we receive at salvation. This means that as the Word says, that greater is He who is in me, than he who is in the world. That our conduct and profession comes from who we are (inside-out) and not what we do. That we live one life, like a soldier whether I am in civilian clothes or on the front lines.

That we don't only try to get people to come to the building (which is great if they are keen) to come and meet our God, but that the evidence and fingerprints of God is reflected in and through everything that I do. I guarantee you, that if you live the Christian life, they will invite themselves!

Is the building that I fellowship in, the only place that I exercise my Christianity, only when amongst other believers and then live like a secret agent in the week....or is His presence and anointing tangible in my sphere of influence?

Being in a loving family and community is to me one of the greatest privileges that we have in this world, yet, when this is isolated to a Sunday or a building or a group of believers we make our Christianity a modern day monastery. This clearly “advertises” that our God is contained to a certain place or building....and not a relationship with the living God which we take to the streets...

The antidote? Be a besotted people who cannot stop talking, living and testifying about the Lover of our souls.