The Landmark Designation on Beale Street

In 2017, the owners of a crumbling building at 326 Beale Street in Memphis received an unexpected letter. The Tennessee Historical Commission had designated their property a historic landmark. They still held the deed. They still paid the taxes. But everything changed. They could no longer gut the interior for a parking garage. They could not cover the original brickwork with vinyl siding. They could not demolish the structure, even though it was legally theirs. The building now belonged to a story larger than their personal plans for it.

Some owners resent landmark designation. They see it as a loss of freedom — all the things they can no longer do with what they technically own. But the wisest owners recognize something different: the designation does not diminish the building. It reveals its true worth. The restrictions are not punishment. They are protection for something irreplaceable.

Paul tells the Corinthians that their bodies have received a designation far more significant than any historical commission could grant. "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price."

You still walk around in your body. You still make choices with it every day. But the Spirit of the Living God has taken up residence, and that changes what you do with the property. Not because your freedom has been stolen — but because your worth has finally been recognized.