Scripture
1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 (NIV)
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; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
Paul continues to urge the Church in Corinth to treat their bodies with dignity and respect, and to remain pure. He extends this idea towards the idea of sin and turning away from things like sexual immorality. He urges the church to not fulfill physical desires for the sake of satisfaction, but to live a life that glorifies Christ.
Understanding
Maintaining and respecting our body is the same as honoring and glorifying our Heavenly Father.
I know this seems like an absolute no-brainer when it comes to ideas like sexual immorality, but I think Paul intended this to be applied to ideas beyond just that. I’m not just speaking of physical harm either, I’m speaking of mental turmoil that we put ourselves through as well. These lies we feed ourself like “I’m not good enough,” or even “I’ll never be like that person when it come to this.” These thoughts dishonor the God who created us and whose Spirit lives inside of us. The Bible says in Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do all the good things he planned for us long ago.”
It’s comforting to know that God does not make accidents, but it is sobering to realize that when we dishonor ourselves physically or mentally we criticize the Spirit given freely to us. In other words, when we dishonor our own body, we ultimately tell God that the price He bought us back with wasn’t enough; we tell the God of the universe that He didn’t really think everything through. We place our own thoughts and physical desires above everything else, which is the most dishonoring thing we could ever do to God. I’m not saying that aren’t days where we feel beaten down by the world and sometimes struggle, but Paul reminds us that we have a Spirit living inside of us that goes past all comprehension. A Spirit that comforts the weary, heals the sick, provides rest for the tired, and joy for the sad. It isn’t hard to find. It’s the one thing about ourselves we can be sure of.
Life Application
A cleansing of the inside, is bound to shine outwardly.
When we treat our bodies as a temple we not only rid ourselves of the negative junk that shouldn’t be there, but we glorify our Creator. When we glorify Him, others begin to notice and wonder what’s different. Let us be a light in a world that focuses solely on one’s own mind as a means of finding the answers. May we learn to rely on the Spirit given to us at a high price. But above all, may we glorify God through treating our bodies like a temple
-Allison Khan
