Day Sixteen
Hungering for Habitation
“… in whom [ye] also are built together for a habitation of God in [the] Spirit.” Eph 2:22 (Darby)
When we talk about the presence of God — His abiding presence that no longer lifts from us – we are talking about “habitation.” At once this seems both the most heavenly of all things, but also perhaps unreachable. To consider it brings both questions, and requirements. We want to examine this habitation over the course of several devotional days – addressing the facts through Scripture in bite-size portions. While Eph 2:22 is one of the few New Testament Scriptures that actually uses the word “habitation”, the concept is also addressed in 1Cor 3:9-17. We’ll begin there.
Having recently been under a Chiropractic “hand” of treatment, you will have to forgive this influence on my manner of expression. However it is not a “stretch” to say that as Paul opens in 1st Corinthians, Chapter Three, he is indeed making an adjustment to the spiritual posture of Corinthian believers. He is showing them that they have been carnal, they have behaved after a human standard in preferring one person over another, and they have failed to apprehend that they are God’s building (vs. 9).
As a preface to Paul’s upcoming exposition on habitation these points are very important. Why? Paul is diagnosing their spiritual condition and how it is both inadequate and incompatible with being “God’s building.” While on one hand he is showing them that they cannot be nonspiritual/carnal/ men of the flesh and also be the habitation of God, on the other hand he is drawing them to hunger for that very habitation! He is running out the sail to capture before them the full wind of God’s wondrous design for them as His Spiritual Home and all that that portends!
We know from the Word that our flesh conveys no benefit concerning eternal things. Jesus condemned the Pharisees for judging according to the flesh (by what they see) and yet this is how the Corinthians were behaving towards Paul and Apollos. Essentially they were aligning themselves to one leader over another in the church because of outward appearance. They were acting as ordinary men, unchanged and unspiritual. They were looking at things with natural eyesight. These tendencies were indicative of their spiritual condition – they were fleshly, not spiritual. Before anything else could be revealed, this problem had to be addressed.
So it is with us today! Before we can begin to experience the habitation of God, we must examine our spiritual disposition. Are we like Corinthians — our carnal nature predominating? We must change! Are we still infants in our new life with Christ — only able to take milk in teaching? Are we ruled by our ordinary impulses (ones we were naturally born with)? Do we find ourselves embroiled in wrangling, factions, and behaving after a human standard? These are prime warning signs that our flesh is in action and control, not the spiritual man. If we want the habitation of God, then our spiritual nature must be in charge, not our flesh! Believe it!
Be-loved.
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