Your Body Is The Temple

Christians and yogis alike believe our bodies are the temple of the divine. We also both believe the divine is sentient and treat Him as such, though yogis are better at playing up the mystical nature of God and how man can never understand His purposes and designs, and Christians dive into the idea of relationship with Him, humanizing God in both healthy and unhealthy ways. My question here is, “If God lives in our bodies with us, what does that mean about the choices we make, day to day?” Both frameworks have deep answers that I appreciate, but the christian story around this concept excites me more, so I’ll begin there.

In the Old Testament, God made a covenant with his people defining the actions they take in order to purge themselves of sin, satisfying God’s judgement of man’s evil, and allowing them to enter into relationship with the perfect God. Of course, these rights and traditions were given to the Jews but we have plenty of stories where gentiles entered into this covenant (even entire nations invited into it), so this covenant was meant for the entire world, through the Jewish culture. During those times, God already established a place on earth for Himself to reside physically. The place where God lived on earth was known as the Holy of Holies, and was the innermost room of the Jewish temple. Anybody who entered this room was struck dead by the awesomeness of God, except for one day each year, when the high priest of Israel would enter and perform specific traditions. Even on that day, when the high priest entered, he wore a coat of bells and a rope around his waist, in case he was struck dead in his uncleanliness so that his body could be extracted without danger to others. On the day Christ was crucified, at the very moment of his death, both Jewish and Roman record show that the sky went dark, and the veil separating the Holy of Holies from the world tore itself in two. Christ’s last exclamation was, “It is finished,” meaning the old covenant of religious rights and traditions is broken, and God has come to live with us, not bound in the Holy of Holies, and not living as a man how Christ did, but invited to live inside each of us. Christ foretold this, saying that we would have a Holy Spirit in us. Proverbs tells us that, “The heart of man is wicked, and beyond repair,” and so this Holy Spirit is a new occurrence, and quite separate from our own heart and spirit. My reason for beginning here is to say that we have been given the greatest gift in history in the Holy Spirit, and His choice to reside in us is quite mystical, and wonderful, which ought to drive us to make different choices through thankfulness and activation of this relationship. What should that look like in terms of the actions we take?

James tells us that we are saved by faith, but faith without action is dead. In most relationships this is obvious. A friend believes I will help him move but that belief is quite useless until I actually show up and, without that action, the faith will only give pain. Action is the important piece in all of life, and especially in faith. Christians talk about many actions of faith that are fitting here: do the best for others simply for their benefit because God loves them, have faith in God’s plan and that whatever occurrs is always for the best, spend time in prayer every day, find a christian community and invest in it… These are wonderful things that will assist your personal relationships with God and others but all of these actions are quite etherial. I mean on a more mundane level, what choices ought we to make? The most obvious implication is that, since our bodies are God’s temple, we ought to give God a temple worthy of His glory. Obviously, He gave us our own bodies to start so He knows what temple He ought to recieve back, and it should be our best. I do mean that any christian who doesn’t take care of their physical health through daily exercise, moderation in food, and consideration of quality sleep, should consider what it means that their body is the temple of the Lord. If a king visited my house, I would take deep care that everything is perfect. Since the King of Kings resides in my body, how much more care should I take of this temple? None of us are perfect, and I have no stones to throw at a christian who struggles with their health. I would only ask them what actions they are taking in order to embody the city on a hill to the world. It should be obvious that the driving factor of their life is union with the Creator, and showing that to the world.

Yogis share much of the same drive. In the eight limbed path of yoga, the defined path of seeking Samadhi, or union with the divine, the first limb deals with five methods of living that are important for all conscious beings (the yamas), and the second limb gives the five disciplines of the yogi (the niyamas). The first of the 5 disciplines of the yogi is Saucha, or cleanliness. To a westerner, cleanliness feels like bathing every day, making your bed, and keeping things tidy, but this falls terribly short of Saucha. The idea is one of cleanliness of body and spirit, which begins with daily practice of poses and meditation. In a Christian context, this would mean that the first discipline of the follower of God is daily exercise and prayer, though there are still stark differences between these mindsets. To a yogi, the practice of poses is exercise but also meditation. It is meant to be preparation for silent sitting in meditation. Christians jump directly into prayer and chastize our children for losing focus. Yoga gives a path where we develop our focus, and also mold our bodies so that it is easy for us to sit in meditation for long periods. I believe Christians could learn a lot from these practices. The practice of poses changed my life completely. I find this style of exercise is holistic and easy to enact daily, even through injury and all different periods of life. Of course, the intensity of practice changes with the ability of the body, and it adapts generally upwards but, based on our daily lives, we often need to soften the practice for days, weeks, and months on end in order to support our bodies and continue shaping them into the best temple we can present to the divine. This is the most mundane application of consideration of God making our bodies His temple.

On a deeper level, since we are the temple of God, we should be in union with God all the time. The purpose of a temple is to glorify God. Nothing else matters to a temple. We, as people, strive for so many goals, and they are often good. People want to be the best parent they can be, provide a comfortable life for their families, feel the result of excellence in accolades and awards, etc. These can be good goals to drive actions, but none are directly related to God. “Why do we want these things?” is the important factor. For example, being the best parent because I want my legacy to have a comfortable, successful life sounds good, but it is likely not in God’s plan. A parent who wants their child to be comfortable and successful likely tells their child to “be careful,” and this is an absolutely anti-God message. Adults are wary of injury for good reason, but children heal quickly. We ought to tell our children to “be carefree!” Live and love life! Through that endless joy, they will find the joy of God, and the resilence that comes from learning injuries result in healing. As a math teacher, I can tell you with absolute certainty that our culture values perfection far above what it should. We ought to value and love our mistakes. They drive our steps into right action, and we made them with the best interests at heart. Likewise, why would a person want to make enough money to give their family a comfortable life? Probably, they feel this is caring for the family and allowing freedom, and it may be so with the right heart. However, the heart of man is wicked and beyond repair. Most people who have this drive, want the result in order to guard against future calamity which may stand against God’s plan. Or they may want it in order to show their accolades, which is hubris even when the accolade is care for their family. The only Godly reason to want any action is that it glorifies God. If I want to be the best parent, for God’s glory, this drives very different actions. If I want to give my family a comfortable life, I may try to earn great wages but I will be much more aware of what a comfortable life actually means and likely to tell the family that God gives and God takes away. It’s not in our design to understand but to follow. The only purpose of the temple is to glorify God. We all have personal goals but, if they don’t serve the Creator then they drive us to hell. If our personal goals are driven by union with the Creator, we don’t just drive in the direction of heaven but rather we experience heaven now, and in every moment, because we fulfill the purpose of being the temple of God.

We are all the temple of God, and that needs to be the driving force of all of our actions. These actions are not so difficult to define. First, work on the physical temple every day. Consider physical effort to support and mold our bodies into the temple God wants. Consider everything we eat and whether those choices support and mold our bodies into the temple God wants. Consider our sleep habits and whether those choices support and mold our bodies into the temple God wants. Secondly, work on our intentions every day. What goals do you work towards and, more importantly, why do you work toward them? A meditation teacher of mine, often comes back to a simple exercise called the “five whys.” Given any desire, ask why I want that five times in order to suss out the base need inside myself and satiate the need rather than they symptom. Possibly, I feel that I need physical affection from my wife today. Why? I don’t feel close to her. Why? We haven’t spent quality time together recently. Why? We’ve both been tired after work and I haven’t invested the energy into deep conversation with each other. Why? I feel justified in resting after a long work day. Why? Because I’m convinced of my importance and the value of my work. Through this exercise, I find that my need for her affection may be a result of my own pride. Fix my own pride by giving my attention to the God that lives miraculously within me, and I have the ability not only to satiate my own need for affection, but also to serve her and others and the best part is that I can do all of this while feeling thankful to the wonderful Creator, rather than burnt out of my own energy! Obviously, this example drives activity but the same exercise may drive me to spend time alone praying and meditating. Indeed, Christ did this often. The disciples felt the need to move on or to meet people or some other important action but Christ often couldn’t be found as he left to find solitude with His Father. We should be in union with the perfect God within us, and constantly driving toward His goals, as a manifestation of His temple.

All in all, what are the actions of the temple of God? Be healthy. God wants you to be healthy. If you aren’t healthy then pray deeply and consider the choices you make. God’s plan is perfect so this may be confusing based on the way you feel about your body but your health is between you and the God that lives within you. Pray and act. Also, consider your driving goals in life and ensure that they serve God. If you work to serve yourself or others before God, you will find no joy there. (Or literally, you will find no heaven there.) As the temple of God, our singular goal is to glorify Him and we do that by eradicating our own ego. Use the five whys to find how your ego separates you from union with the Creator, and then eliminate your ego. This may feel impossible but all things are possible through Christ who lives within you. Simply give all of your intent to union with Him, and you will have the joy of heaven endlessly!