And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. We looked upon His glory, the glory of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14 (TLV)
The fact that Jesus "tabernacled" among us reveals God's intention to have a redeemed people be His dwelling place, and thus we are rightfully referred to as the temple of the Holy Spirit. This awareness of being the temple of the Holy Spirit gives us the most direct access to God because Jesus as our Saviour and High Priest has made the perfect atonement for our sin. And amazingly we are made royal priests by our union to Jesus who is our great Melchizedekian Priest-King.
The Apostle Paul reiterates that we were created originally to be priests.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:1-2 (ESV)
This act of presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice is seen by Paul as an act of worshipful obedience that comes from responding to the revelation of God's Word and the prompting of God’s Spirit, in which our will (mind) is unified with God's will (mind) and renewed at its most profound level.
Renewing your mind is a lifestyle, not just an experience. We are transformed by the way we think and act from old, ungodly ways of thinking into new, godly ways of thinking. It comes by knowing our new covenant identity and walking in spiritual authority and power.
A renewed mind is a necessity for the manifesting of the lifestyle of the kingdom of God. If the mind is not renewed, we will merely adopt a religious way of life rather than the kingdom's way of life and the right way to live a godly, righteous life.
We have a functioning priesthood on earth. Our first call is not to build anointed careers or businesses and give money to the kingdom. If this is the case, we have limited spirituality to workplace integrity, church attendance and offerings. While these things are good, they fall far short of our identity and calling in Christ.
Let’s reclaim our priesthood as believers in Christ.
Our world longs for an expression of Christ as He truly is, and our work can be a primary means of representing Him. It is perilous to prioritise our jobs over our divine calling is perilous. When we are out of sync with these two things, everyone around us is denied access to the Father through us. It is unfortunate that we often think of our workplaces as benign places that God has little concern about. But they are places where you can treat your job as a vocation, but more importantly, you can worship, work and serve as one of God's royal priests.