Keeping Holy His Temple

Prayer-Soldier · Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 1:34 pm Post subject: Keeping Holy His Temple

Keeping Holy His Temple

Scripture:

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel. And you shall say to them: Be holy, because I the Lord your God am holy.

You shall not hate your brother in your heart: But reprove him openly, lest you incur sin through him. Seek not revenge, nor be mindful of the injury of your citizens. You shall love your friend as yourself. I am the Lord. ( Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18 )

Know you not that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy, which you are. Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written: I will catch the wise in their own craftiness. And again: The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Let no man therefore glory in men. For all things are yours, whether it be Paul or Apollo or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come. For all are yours. And you belong to Christ. And Christ belongs to God. ( 1 Corinthians 3:16-23 )

You have heard that it has been said: An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you not to resist evil: but if one strike you on your right cheek, turn to him also the other: And if a man will contend with you in judgment, and take away your coat, let go your cloak also unto him. And whosoever will force you one mile, go with him another two. Give to him that asks of you, and from him that would borrow of you turn not away. You have heard that it has been said, You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you: That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who makes his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and rains upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them that love you, what reward shall you have? Do not even the publicans do this? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? Do not also the heathens do this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect. ( Matthew 5:38-48 )

Reflection:

We are called to love one another and told by His Word that we should not seek revenge or hold grudges. The history of the generations, though, is filled with violence because the children of His creation have not been able to manage adherence to this commandment of the Lord. And so it is, the ills of the world are rooted in the failures to understand and keep holy the commandment to love one another.

All the conflicts between peoples; feuds, political conquests, wars; and all the misery, violence and death which they spawn; are rooted in the evil which drives the wages of hate. It has been the plan of the evil one to seduce the children of His creation into a culture of death, where even mothers are seduced to kill their children while the child is still within the womb. The most defenseless and innocent of the world should expect the love and protection of the mother in which they grow, but even to those within the womb, the hand of evil strives to deliver death. Good people, blinded by the darkness, would recoil in horror if they were able to see and understand what evil is able to manipulate from their choices and actions.

The violence, the acts of terror, the wars; all may stop if the people begin with the choice to follow His commandments to love. The child entrusted to mother and father would grow in safety. No one would need to fear the streets they walk or the people they meet. Through prayer, He will open our eyes so that we see the horrors of evil and how we may vanquish its power. Through prayer, He will guide us away from all which causes pain, misery and violence among the children of His creation. Through prayer, He will guide us to how we may live with one another in fulfillment of His commandments and the blessings of His Word. Through prayer, He will guide us in how we may care for the less fortunate and protect the innocent and defenseless from the designs of the evil one.

He has created each one of us as a temple where He has placed special gifts. There is no one He has allowed to form in the womb for which He does not have a purpose. Each one of us, then, are meant to be a temple of His love. What we do in harm of ourselves or one another is an attack up His temple. We should not be surprised then, that the emissary of hate, through us, seeks to strike at the temple of God by seducing us to destroy ourselves and one another.

From the first moment we are conceived, His desire is that we should live in love, even as we form in the womb. His desire is that all mothers should experience the blessings of Mary and Elizabeth as they reflected upon the life growing within them. They knew from the Holy Spirit there was something special which would come from what was conceived within their womb.

It is the evil one which seduces the children of His creation to turn upon each other and to turn upon themselves. It is the evil one which seduces us to decisions of selfishness so that we might turn away His Holy Spirit which seeks to guide us to share the gifts which He has placed within us. It is the evil one who seduces the people to abandon compassion and allow themselves to be consumed by that which strikes at His temple.

He made us in His image, with the capacity to forgive and love. He made us so that we may learn His Word and share in the peace which comes through following His commandments. He placed us in this world so that we may learn and grow through His blessings; but so many fail to comprehend. He has placed within our reach so much which we may accomplish when we seek His wisdom, but so many remain deceived by the ways of the world and are seduced to the vanity that they have absolute knowledge from which to declare what is truth and what is fact. If it is true wisdom we seek, we must first seek Him and we must invite the Holy Spirit within our heart. Through prayer, we should ask to be guided in each day, for if we do not seek His guiding hand, we shall wander into the clutches of the one who lives in darkness.

Those who know His commandments are stunned at how words become twisted and how so many are deceived into following the ways of the evil one. Voices are raised such that those who are innocent are declared guilty and those who are good are declared evil. Voices are raised such that those who should live in freedom are enslaved. Voices are raised such that a culture of death is justified over life. Voices are raised so that hands no longer work together for common blessings, but against one another only to deliver destruction. The cunning of the evil one is even able to twist the understanding of scripture to set neighbor against neighbor and nation against nation; although, His commandments clearly teach us otherwise.

Many extend hands of piece to friends, and if the children of His creation did not allow themselves to be manipulated by the evil one, all would also extend hands of peace to everyone who passed. The choice belongs to the people, to follow the hands of peace or the hands of violence. As armies of conquest and oppression are raised, shadows are spread across the land as evil seeks to enslave. This spawns from the hearts of those who do not respect His Word, but to what end do they come? For a time, the empty promises of the evil one may seem to prevail, but no tyrant, no emissary of evil can escape the day of account.

So many act like the child who escapes punishment because no one saw the transgression, but He sees every injustice. He has told us He will forgive what is forgiven; therefore, it is for common benefit that we should seek peace amongst ourselves. We have also been told that we shall be forgiven as we forgive; therefore, we should not seek to hold grudges, for in so doing, we only enslave ourselves to that which we will not forgive.

If we are not sure of our path, whether it is His or one paved by the evil one; we may find the way through prayer. If we ask Him to guide us, He will not abandon us. We may not always understand every answer in the moment we receive it, but He knows our every need; it is through prayer we let Him know we care and that we are willing to place ourselves within His hands. If we ask Him to protect what is in His temple, He will not deny us.

May the peace and blessings of the Lord be with you always,
Prayer Soldier