Paul is pleading with the Corinthians not to hamstring themselves. He knows that an unequal yoke is, at the least, inefficient . . . at its worst, disastrous. To place a pack of rocks on your back is counter-productive to wanting to run the race . . . righteousness and lawlessness make lousy partners . . . light and darkness have problems co-existing . . . Christ and Belial just don’t get along in a room. And in his plea to these believers . . . to these saints who were playing around with idols, the world’s gods, he reminds them of who they are . . . of what God has done . . . and, of the promises they possess.

For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make My dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a Father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me, says the Lord Almighty.”   (2Corinthians 16b-18 ESV)

I read this a second time . . . and then a third . . . it’s like drinking out of a fire hose! Church, check out who we are! We are the temple of the living God . . . the Most Holy Place . . . the place on earth where the presence and glory of God has chosen to dwell. Look at that face in the mirror . . . and see the temple of the living God. Look around at those in the pews (or chairs) around you . . . see the Most Holy Place. What’s more, we are sons and daughters to God. Adopted with full rights of children . . . made heirs and joint heirs with Christ . . . made brothers and sisters in God’s family . . . loved, as only children can be loved by their parents.

That’s who we are. And not because of what we are . . . or what we’ve done . . . but because of what He has purposed to do . . .

“I will make My dwelling among them” . . . “I will walk among them” . . . “I will be their God” . . . “I will welcome you” . . . “I will be a Father to you” . . .

I will . . . I will . . . I will, says the Lord Almighty. Pause and take note of all that God purposes to do in the life of a believer . . . of all that God wants to be in the midst of the church. How amazing is grace? How mind-bending is our position in Christ? How unfathomable are God’s desires for His people? Pretty amazing . . . totally mind-bending . . . so unfathomable. And we have these promises . . .

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.   (2Corinthians 7:1 ESV)

Knowing who we are . . . being reminded of what God has done . . . brought again to the promises that are ours . . . it has a way of motivating us to shed the yoke . . . to lay aside every weight that so easily besets us.

Sometimes I get distracted . . . forget I’m in a race . . . lose sight of the prize. It’s then that I do dumb things like mixing the sugar-water of the world with the high-octane fuel of heaven and thinking the car’s going to run just as well. But to be re-focused . . . to be reminded of the calling . . . to be shown again the promises . . . is to be motivated to clean myself up — by the grace of God and through the blood of Christ . . . is to be inspired to renew the pursuit holiness — by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We have these promises . . .