Inhabited By The Big G

Inhabited by the Big G

The Reality of God-in-me

1/22/03

I. Introduction

A little girl sat at the breakfast table with her parents one morning. Dad was reading the newspaper. Mom was making waffles. The little girl sat, wide-eyed, staring at her orange juice. She thought for a minute, and then asked the question, “Daddy?” “Yes, sweetie,” he said. “Jesus is God, right?” “Yes,” he answered. “Then God lives in my heart, right?” “Yes, sweetie, God lives in your heart.” “Ok,” she said, then she sat quietly for a while, and took a sip of her juice. Then she asked another question, “Daddy?” “Yes, sweetie,” he said. “How big is God?” “Well, God is big. Remember the song we like to sing, He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands?” “Yeah,” she answers. He says, “God is big enough to hold the world in his hands. That’s big, isn’t it?” “Yeah, that’s really big.” She seemed content with his answer, and she again sat quietly and had another sip of juice. “Daddy, if God is that big, and he lives in my heart, wouldn’t He stick out?”

This little girl’s question definitely makes you think. Why doesn’t God stick out if He lives in our hearts? Or does he? We’re going to look a little bit deeper at the reality of God living inside of us, and exactly what that means.

II. How?

How does God live inside of us?

Before we can know anything about God living inside of us, we must know some things, or be reminded, of some things about the nature of man. Man is a spirit being. He has a soul, which includes his mind and his emotions. He lives in a physical body. (1 Thessalonians 5:23 “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely: and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”)

When you become born again, the moment you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, your spirit is re-born, your nature is changed. 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new.”

At this point, you become a child of God, God is your Father. You become a new creation. You also become the temple of God. That means God takes residence inside of you. He makes you His home. In the Old Testament, they had the temple, inside it was the Holy place, and then the Holy of Holies, which is where God was. In the New Testament, because of Jesus’ sacrifice, we who accept Him as our savior become the temple.

2 Corinthians 6:16 “For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God and they shall be my people.’”

1 Corinthians 6:19 “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”

Ok, so the Big G is living in me. I’m his house. What’s the catch? You’d think the God of the Universe would stay at the 5 Star Resort, or the Ritz-Carlton? Or, forget the fancy hotels. I mean, the God who made heaven and earth would obviously live in the biggest mansion in the world, yet He chose man, a cardboard box compared to the Ritz. Why would He do it? He loves you. He wants to be as close to you as possible. It doesn’t get any closer than living inside somebody, does it? God doesn’t live inside man because he’s the roomiest place on the planet and he’s got a great view. No. God comes to live in you…for you. God’s purpose is always to make you better. No matter where you start out in life, God always wants to bring you to a higher place. He came to earth specifically for that purpose. He brought people into your life to tell you that you could be born again and that He could live inside of you. He made his home in you. He put you here in a good church where people tell you that he came to give you the abundant life. Why? To make you better.

III. Better than Ever

How does God living in me, propping his feet up on my heart, watching the soap opera of my life through the television of my eyes, make me better?

1 John 4:4 “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”