My wife and I enjoy walking the neighborhoods of Coronado, CA and gazing at the beautiful homes. We point out what we like and converse about the designs. The homes there are unique, multifaceted, and never seem to get old.

Surely the places we live are important to us. We care what they look like, smell like, and even how they make us feel. We have entire stores dedicated to home care and improvement. If we care so much, how much more does God care about His dwelling place. Paul teaches us that “In him [Christ Jesus] you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” Oh all the streets in the universe and all the houses that God could have, yet He has chosen redeemed sinners to be His dwelling place by His Spirit. That is amazing, humbling, and instructive to the church today.

God’s Dwelling Place is More than the Individual

The redeemed individual is important to God, but the redeemed community is where He dwells more fully. And this community consists of Jews and Gentiles, of black and white, of rich and poor, of men and women, of Canadian and Mexican, of politicians and farmers, and so on. John sees it like this (in Rev. 7:9), “[A] great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.”

While God does dwell within the individual, we must remember that we are one part to a much greater whole. We are not the whole house but merely one piece, one small decoration of a much bigger house of God where He dwells.

Since the church is God’s dwelling place, Christians ought to stay close to her, abiding in Jesus alongside with her, meeting together, praying together, serving one another, and edifying one another. There is no Jesus and I have a thing over here apart from the church. Rather, it is I and the rest of the church community are abiding in Jesus collectively for He is building us together to be His special dwelling place in all the universe.

God’s Dwelling Place Means Diversity

God is using different colors, ages, ethnicities, socio-economic statuses, and so forth to build His dwelling place. That means God’s church will contain a lot of people that look different, think different, and live different. In other words, the church must be ready to deal with and become one with different. I’m not talking about heresies, but personalities, stages of maturity, and the like.

Our homes contain diversity. The couch isn’t the same color as the floor. The windows don’t contain the same pictures that the walls do. The door has different strengths than the bathtub. Yet, they all have a place, a function, and are pleasing to the homeowner. Different is good in God’s home just like it is in ours.

Dwelling together will require the fruit of the Spirit from each one of us. Such differences will demand patience, kindness, love, self-control, humility, and mercy. As we learn to dwell with God we also are learning to dwell with Christ’s body.

God’s Dwelling Place Means An Active God

The action of being built together into a dwelling place for God is a passive verb. Thus, God is the actor in the building of His people. We can expect God to be at work among us, moving us, shaping us, bringing us together, and having His way among us.

Often we look at our homes and desire to add a little something here and fix a little thing there. In the same manner, God is adding and fixing within the body of Christ actively among us.

Therefore, don’t be surprised when God moves among us, adding, fixing, and sanctifying that which is His dwelling place. He desires His dwelling place to feel like home and He will have His way in making that a reality. Thank God for making us part of His home. And may we never forget—there is no place like home!

In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:22