James just wrote a post about what the world would look like if we all suddenly disappeared. What would happen to cities? Nuclear plants? The planet in general? He deftly equated the idea of a crumbling world with the question: “What would the impact on your community be if your church didn’t exist?” A very difficult question indeed. This whole idea of homosapiens abandoning earth got me to thinking about another place humans quite frequently leave vacant. Houses.

We’ve all seen abandoned, run-down houses. You know, the kind that kids throw rocks at. The kind of house that George Bailey moves into in It’s a Wonderful Life. Something like this:

Looking at this house, it’s easy to imagine that the people who lived there destroyed it. But how did this house really get in such bad shape? Well, it wasn’t because people wrecked it. Quite the opposite. It’s amazing how quickly a beautiful house can turn into an eyesore when people stop living there. Insects and rodents don’t get killed, dust and cobwebs aren’t cleaned and lawns go unkempt. Decay is the inevitable result of human abandonment.

Despite knowing how it happens, looking at this house, you can’t help but almost feel sorry for it. It’s almost as if it’s lost its soul. It is, in a very real sense, a shell of what it once was.

Now, let me “go all James on you” and turn this towards God and Spirituality. This house is a prime example of what happens to us when God is absent. Just as houses were built for people and decay without daily interaction with people, we were built for God and decay without daily interaction with Him. To revise my earlier statement: Decay is the inevitable result of human abandonment of God.

1 Cor. 6:19 tells us that: your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit [source]. When we abandon everyday interaction with our Creator, our temples can become in need of repairs really quickly. So, how’s your temple?