You are God's Temple

Have you ever thought about how beautiful and ordered (or organized) the tabernacle and temple of God would have been? They would have been more perfect than the most perfect interior or exterior design we see today. Check out these passages for some of the descriptions and commands Scripture gives us about God's earthly home: Exodus 25-21, 2 Chronicles 3-5, and 1 Kings 6-7. From the perfect measurements to materials like gold, silver, bronze, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, fine linen, oil, spices, incense, onyx stones, we see God's care and concern for order and beauty in His temple and tabernacle.

You are God's Temple

There is no longer a temple today. So do you know what the temple is now? It is the people of God. We are God's temple and He lives within us. If God cared so much about beautifying and ordering His temple, wouldn't He also care about the temple of His people? In fact, we know the answer! Paul wrote this to the Corinthians:

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, 
whom you have from God? You are not your own, 
for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

~ 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

We are to honor God with our bodies because our bodies are His house! He is living within us and thus cares about our bodies. Just as God's temple was beautiful and ordered, so should our dress be beautiful and ordered.

Dress for Beauty

When we get dressed each morning, we should dress for beauty. God cares about beauty and He desires that we make ourselves beautiful. After all, He is the creator and originator of beauty (Psalm 27:4, Psalm 50:2)! But notice that this pursuit of beauty isn't all-consuming or to the extreme.

If you look at God's temple, you see good taste and valuable materials, not an overdone, cheap appearance. A truly beautiful young lady has good taste in her colors, hair, make-up, etc. and doesn't flaunt herself or her body, but shows her value in her appearance. We shouldn't cheapen ourselves. God is living in us and we are valuable to Him:

For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…

Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, 

I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life.

~ Isaiah 43:3-4

Dress for Order

Also like the temple of God, we need to dress with order and "that which is proper":

Likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel…

with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works. 

~ 1 Timothy 2:9-10

Respectable and proper…that sounds rather archaic and old-fashioned, doesn't it? (For the record, there's nothing wrong with old-fashioned things!) Think about it as dressing appropriately. You wouldn't wear dirty jeans to a wedding or your swim suit to a funeral. You would wear things appropriate to the occasion. Each day when we get dressed, we should think about what would be appropriate for what we are going to be doing that day.

Another aspect of this order is modesty. To be respectable and proper is to be decent or presentable, according to the dictionary. There was nothing in or around God's temple that was indecent or unpresentable. Everything was pure, lovely, and honorable. It should be the same with us! We should dress with order and dignity, remembering that we are representing our God, who is inside of us.

Closing Thoughts

God's temple and tabernacle must have been glorious to behold, because they reflected His glory, beauty, and order. As God's temples ourselves, let's reflect His beauty and order in our own lives by the way we dress. We have such a gift to be called to be God's temple. Let's delight in it and take it seriously.

Blessings,
Christina

P.S. The picture above is of a replica of the tabernacle that my family and I were privileged to visit a few years ago. I share it just to give a glimpse of what the tabernacle might have looked like. But, my friends, the real thing would have been so far more beautiful and glorious that this!

Soli Deo Gloria ~ To God Alone Be the Glory!