WITHOUT A DOUBT, the hummingbird is a fascinating creature. Its wings perform two hundred strokes per second in midair, hovering over a flower like a helicopter, extracting delightful food flying upward, downward, forward and backward.
The homing pigeon, too, defies all reasonable analysis. It is a genius among birds. Its precise sense of direction has been carefully recorded, as in the case of Nansen's pigeon which flew over thousands of miles in an uncharted course. At journey's end, it gave one quick turn and headed right back where it started.
The honeybee is also a creature of unusual abilities. It moves its wings 11,400 times a minute, facilitated by a wing, like a figure-eight design, moving in every direction. To produce one pound of delectable honey, requires 37,00 loads of nectar. This means that 45,000 bees from a single hive, will visit 250,000 blossoms in one day, registering 40,000 total flight miles.
The Taj Mahal, the famous tomb in India, is an architectural wonder of man. One of the most beautiful and costly tombs in the whole world, it was built by Indian Shah Jahan out of deep love for his wife, Mumtaz-i-Mahal. Twenty thousand workmen labored for twenty-one years to complete the tomb which is made of white marvel.
But greater than any other marvel in all creation, or of any temple by man, is the human body. This is the masterpiece of God's creative design. The human is the greatest temple known to man.
It is humbling to realize that we are God's temple! He delights to dwell in our bodies. He has condescended from the lofty heights of glory to live in those who have been born of His Spirit.
The divine creation of the body is cause for giving praise and thanksgiving to the Lord. David, the sweet singer in Israel said, "I will praise you; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are your works; and that my soul knows right well" (Ps. 119:14).
Did you realize that your body has 200 bones, some of which are as strong as steel? The body supports muscles which compose its running gear. The body's breathing system--its ventilating plant--is superb in its efficient operation of the nose, lungs and skin. The body's heart is a stupendous tower of strength. It completes 4,320 strokes an hour, pumping fifteen gallons of blood throughout the body.
In one year, the heart beats a staggering, forty million times. This is enough energy to lift a-100-car-freight train 250 miles in the air. More amazing still is the fact that there are 100,000 miles of blood vessels in the body, enough to reach around the world four times.
The body's telegraphic mechanism--the nervous system--is simply astounding in its flawless function. The body's eye boasts the best camera in all the world. The body's electrical switchboard--the brain--is fantastic in its work. Weighing about one fiftieth of the total weight of the body, the brain controls every motion, from the batting of the eyelid to the movement of an arm to a leg. The brain has in it more electrical circuits than are in all the television and radio shops in the world.
The brain is housed in a bowl-shaped protection called the skull. A computer equal to the human brain, would require a building the size of the Empire State Building, plus all the generated power of Niagara, to operate it! The body's cable system--the spinal cord--surpasses all systems known to man in its mighty work.
The fact that the Holy Spirit dwells in our body from the very moment of salvation, is a wonderful truth (Rom. 5:5). First Corinthians 3:16 states that "The Spirit of God dwells in you. The word "dwell" means to inhabit. The term was used to speak of a permanent resident in a town or village, as distinguished from those "dwelling as strangers, or sojourners." Then it came to refer to one who lives in a place all the time, or permanence of residence. When we become a Christian, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us, to abide with us forever. This means that He will never leave us.
"What? Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom we have of God, and you are not your own? For you are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's" (I Cor. 6:19-20). This reminds us that since the we are bought with a price (Christ's precious blood), we are to glorify Him through the enabling work of the Holy Spirit.
With the Holy Spirit in us to lead, guide and direct us in service, let us "Put...on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts (desires) thereof" (Rom. 13:14).
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