1 Corinthians 6
19 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. Therefore honour God with your bodies.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
‘You are not your own.’ These words strike a chord with our modern minds, but not a wonderful musical chord. When I hear words like this, in my worldly moments, my natural reaction is an uncomfortable feeling. I think things like ’I’m not a slave’, ‘I belong to no one’, ‘I am free to do and think as I please.’ Yet when I have clarity as a Christian, these words sound out for me a song of belonging, comfort and a higher purpose.
Belonging, because I am bought with a price. A price paid in love to redeem me from sin, death and the slavery under Satan. Comfort, because I belong to God who is faithful and good. And a higher calling, because I am called to reflect the One to whom I belong: the God of heaven and earth. This means that what I do with my body counts; we are to glorify God with our bodies. In an age where almost anything goes when it comes to satisfying the desire of the flesh, we as Christians are called to something better. We are not to gratify the flesh but to submit our bodies to reflecting God and His character. It means we can say no, because we are constrained by godliness. It also means we can say yes because we are guided by the gospel. It means we can and must think hard about what we do with our bodies. As we trace our steps in the past week, can we say, ‘I have used my body for the glory of God, in what I’ve eaten, drunk and how I have used my body’?
We are not our own, we belong to Christ and have a higher calling. So let us pray that God would constrain us from evil and move us towards godliness us for His glory alone.
Prayer: Lord, thank You for loving us and setting us free. Thank you for Jesus and His sacrifice for us. Help us by your Spirit to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to You. In Christ we pray, Amen.