by Barry Newton

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, ABC television network recently plowed through a mountain of video clips. Among those unearthed from their vaults were some scenes from the old “Laverne and Shirley” show. In one of these the character of Shirley contrasted herself with her roommate Laverne. While Laverne was content to embrace a lifestyle of feasting upon junk food, Shirley proudly proclaimed that her body was a temple and no junk food was ever permitted to enter the temple! Viewing her body as a temple controlled her eating habits.

Although her comments were embedded within a situation comedy, nevertheless Shirley’s words capture purpose and direction. Instead of living life with the directionless boundaries of doing whatever might feel right at the moment, imagine the purpose and the responsibility of caring for the sacred.

If you were entrusted with caring for a portable temple for God, where would you take it? What TV programs, internet sites or movies would you expose the sacred to? What would you say in its presence? Would you ever want to hide it under some cloth so that your words or actions might be hidden from it? What would you do as a custodian and manager of God’s temple?

I know that you are already ahead of me. But hang with me a moment longer as we turn to scripture. In writing about the seriousness of sexual immorality, Paul argued, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God, and you are not your own? For you have been purchased with a price; glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Having been made to become a temple of the Holy Spirit should influence and control what we do!

Similarly, when writing about the awesome responsibility involved in teaching God’s people, Paul wrote to the saints at Corinth that, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you? Whoever might destroy the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy and that is what you are.” 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Since God's people have been made to become the temple of God, this holds strong repercussions for anyone who would teach falsely thus leading to the destruction of God’s people.

Each child of God is a keeper of God’s temple. He or she is never alone but always in the presence of the sacred. These are sobering as well as humbling thoughts. God has entrusted us to care for His temple! Of course God is everywhere, but as a steward of His temple where would you take it? How might this empower you to live for God and achieve His purposes through your life? How would God’s people live if these thoughts soaked deeply into their awareness?

by Russ McCullough

It’s 4:15 a.m. I have been unable to sleep since 2:30 a.m., not an uncommon occurrence, I suspect, among the general population. People fail to sleep for many reasons. My reason happens to be that I woke up worrying about the burdens I carry at my place of employment.

Like many of you, my workplace environment is devoid of Christian principles. My mind raced with thoughts of my burdens and what action, if any, I should take. Soon my thoughts turned to prayer to share my burdens with the Lord.

Comparing Burden to Burden

Then my prayer suddenly ended when I thought that the Lord would find my burdens insignificant compared to the burdens of many of you. How could God care about my burdens at work when ...

... the future of this congregation is so much more important in comparison?

... so many people have no job at all?

... by His grace I remain in good health when so many do not?

... people are starving in the world?

The list is endless.

I soon felt guilty for bringing to the Lord’s attention my burdens, trivial in comparison to the burdens of others. Guilt, wretchedness, and hopelessness threatened to overtake me. Then, when despair over my dilemma was about to shut me down, the thought occurred that God MUST speak to this subject in His Word. He does indeed! What I discovered I feel compelled to share with you.

No Sliding Scale

Some things we understand intellectually and yet do not understand emotionally. For example, we understand intellectually that all sin separates us from God and there is no such thing as a small or large sin in the eyes of the Lord. Emotionally, however, we often wrestle with the guilt of past sins, and their consequences continue to haunt us, even though we know they are forgiven.

God does not grade on a scale of relativity. There is no such thing as being somewhat saved or mostly saved. We are either saved or lost. Period. Jesus said, "You are either for me or against me." We don’t slide in and slide out of salvation several times a day based upon some sliding scale that God uses on us. "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His son, purifies us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).

In like manner, NEITHER does God employ some sliding scale of relativity to determine whether or not our burdens are worthy of His care. After reading what God has to say on the subject, I discovered that He does not look at my burdens in relation to the burdens of others in order to decide if He will care about them. Think about it! If God were to do so, He would ultimately only care about the ONE person on earth that happens to be suffering the MOST at that given point in time! All others, by default, would have to carry their own burdens themselves until they moved up the line.

Have Hurt, God Cares

The conclusion to the matter is this: God does not care WHY we are hurting; the hurt alone --regardless of its cause --is sufficient to warrant His total care and attention. Hear what the Lord has to say based upon a compilation of the following scriptures: Psalms 145:14, 17-20, 1 Peter 5:7 and Matthew 11:28-30.

"The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. The Lord is righteous in all His ways and loving toward all He has made. The Lord is near to all who call on Him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them. The Lord watches over all who love Him. ... Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. ... Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Let us reject, once and for all, the theory of relativity and share our burdens with each other while we collectively give them to the Lord to carry.

Russ is a shepherd at the Archdale congregation in Charlotte, NC, USA.