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I came home to an unpleasant surprise one day recently. discovered that someone had decided to express himself artistically with a spray can on the street in front of my home. My property wasn’t damaged, but I was still disgruntled to realize I’d have that mess to look at for no telling how long before it finally wore away with time, elements, and traffic.
The thought that such undesirable designs could be replaced was also of no comfort. If such a thing had been done directly to my own property, the offense of the matter would be multiplied many times over, for this would be a violation of my own personal space and dwelling.
If such a thing could raise my ire as much as it can and as much as it has and as much it did and as much as it does, then how much more so do you suppose the anger of the Lord is kindled when the dwelling place of Him through the Spirit is violated?
O, it isn’t as if anyone had managed to spray paint graffiti on the jasper walls. However, At First Corinthians chapter three, Paul teaches us at verses sixteen and seventeen that we as individuals are the temple of God, because His Spirit dwells in us.
The thought of such a divine presence within a man can provoke some very curious thought with regard to just how such a dwelling is accomplished. Actually, it isn’t as strange or complicated as it may sound. At Romans chapter ten, we’re told that our faith is our response to the word of God. With regard to that faith, the second chapter of James and the eleventh chapter of Hebrews both teach us that we cannot demonstrate any faith at all to God without obedience.
Therefore, true faith becomes evident in a person’s life as he offers it a living sacrifice to God, and it is by that faith that Christ dwells in the heart of man, according to Ephesians chapter three, verse seventeen.
Therefore, any violation of the principles of the Christian faith renders a man unfit as a dwelling place of God through His Spirit, for He will not dwell in the same place in which the devil himself is invited. Such a sinful presence offends God to the extent that He removes himself until such time as the heart of man has been cleared of evil thought and intent.
Just as you resent the violation of the space in which you live, God resents the violation of the heart of man by sinfulness, for it is there that God Himself desires to dwell.