MY
BODY, HIS PROPERTY
Memorise
I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service.
Romans 12:1
Read
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
3:16 Know ye
not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
3:17 If any
man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is
holy, which temple ye are.
MESSAGE
The passion of God behind the admonition in today’s
memory verse is evident. The goodness of God and His commitment to our
wellbeing is far beyond our imagination. Can you comprehend this: that having
paid the ultimate price for our redemption, He is still passionately pleading
with those of us that are His, for our own sake, to keep our bodies? Though it
is in our own best interest, yet He pleads with us. To start with, a person
that says he or she is enjoying himself with cigarette smoking or taking of
hard drugs does not know what he is saying. Such a person is destroying himself
in bits. Likewise, the fellow given to alcohol is destroying and cutting short
his age systematically. What about the fornicator and adulterer? The major
vehicle for HIV infection is no other than sexual immoralities such as
pre-marital sex, homosexuality, lesbianism and the likes. Presenting your body
as a living sacrifice means denying your body the fashion or pleasures that are
at variance with the ways of the kingdom you belong to. This includes denying
yourself such aberrations like exposing your body through clothes that are in
vogue.
If the body of the believer in Christ is the temple
of God, and God is holy, how does a child of God think he or she will be full
of the Holy Spirit while unabatedly indulging in evil habits? Somebody must be
deceiving himself or herself somehow. The Bible warns us not to grieve the Holy
Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). What other possible ways could the Holy Spirit be
grieved, if not by rendering His habitation non-conducive for Him to dwell in?
Is it not that those defiling His temple (our bodies) are asking Him (the Holy
Spirit) to pack up and go elsewhere?
The care of our body includes feeding it with the
right things – good food and not junk food that causes obesity, and taking the
right quantity of food at a time (gluttony is condemned by the Bible).
Likewise, drinks must be non-alcoholic and non-nicotinic. Spiritually, feed on
the word of God. Besides, treat the body with natural means for its refreshing
like sleeping moderately and not inducing yourself with drugs to sleep. Also,
use your body rightly. It is good to work hard, but then, learn also to give it
its due rest. Don’t use the body for immorality in any form. Learn not to
pamper your body either, it may crave those things that would make it to incur
God’s wrath, it is your duty to deny it those things. You can do all these
because the power of God through Christ is now in you. God is not demanding
what you cannot do.
Key
Point
God desires purity of the heart as well as purity
of the body.
BIBLE
IN ONE YEAR
2 Kings 21:19-23:27
Proverbs 25:1-14
God is so awesome. We need to treat our bodies as awesome as He is and trust that He will reward us greatly.Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteFather please help me to keep my body under subjection
ReplyDelete