Yahweh loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken in you, O city of God.
Do you like to keep a tidy house?
My husband sure does! Me, not so much—at least in the sense that I have a thousand other things that take precedence in my free time over straightening up, especially now that I’m a mom! But my husband, bless him, is my perfect other half in this way: he keeps me on track to keep a clean house! And the more he reminds me we need to devote a day to cleaning, the more mindful I become to at least get the baby’s toys straightened up at the end of the day!
A clean and orderly house is truly a wonderful thing, whether you like the process of getting it that way or not. This is a godly principle, even! Throughout Scripture, special attention is paid to the creation and maintenance of God’s dwelling places, the Tabernacle and the Temples—both the earthly ones in Jerusalem and the future Temple on the new earth. Mount Zion is used frequently in the Psalms, referring not just to a location in Jerusalem but more broadly symbolic of God’s eventual dwelling place with His people when Paradise is restored.
We can definitely understand and appreciate the love and attention paid to places like these, where the Almighty God has and will dwell! But do we pay as much attention and respect to the dwelling place of His holy spirit, His nature, His gift?
I’m talking about us—believers! Our bodies are called temples, a dwelling place of God’s gift of holy spirit. In the Old Testament particularly, the places where God’s spirit dwelled were treated with reverence, respect, and awe. The people were required to keep them a certain way to be honorable and worthy of the presence of God. And I have to ask myself…do I treat my body that way, as a temple of the Living God?
How much concern do I pay to what crosses my threshold? Is it set apart for what’s acceptable and pleasing to God, or is my temple accepting of whatever wants to be inside? Do I maintain its trappings or allow them to be tarnished with time and use? Is it a place of ministering or a den of robbers and swindlers? How sacredly do I treat what God has deemed sacred?
As temples of God, we are exhorted to keep ourselves clean and holy. This is honor and respect of the spirit within us. When we live wantonly, treat our bodies and our minds with disrespect rather than disciplining them in Christ, and don’t guard our gates against what God has deemed unclean, then we are desecrating the temple. We may be letting filth into God’s house we would never permit in our own brick-and-mortar homes!
So, ask yourself—am I keeping the temple clean? Am I behaving like a child of Zion, one with roots in God’s holy place? It’s never too late to clean house, throw out the money-changers, and sweep your temple clean. Now is the perfect moment to begin honoring the temple, the dwelling place of God that is within you!
