Body Beautiful

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 … do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

Is it okay for a woman to have a facelift, or a nip and tuck, or a boob job as they call them? Or is it wrong? Is it okay for someone to get a tattoo? Well, what do you think?

I remember a well-known preacher on television one day getting up and defending her facelift. Now, obviously she’d had some comments, so she explained it and she reasoned that, after all, it was her body and she could with it what she wanted.

Fair enough, although …

… do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

Look, I’m not here to judge anyone for their decision to have cosmetic surgery. There’s nothing in the Bible about that. And although the Old Testament forbids tattoos (Leviticus 19:28) it also tells us to stone someone to death for working on the Sabbath. We’re not under that Old Testament law anymore.

But it seems to me that there are two equal and opposite mistakes that as Christ-followers we can make when it comes to our bodies.

At the one extreme, it’s easy to under-spiritualise things. We imagine that what we can see and touch and smell and hear is all there is. And so, really, anything goes. It’s my choice.

But at the other extreme, you can over-spiritualise things too. You focus on prayer and reading your Bible and going to church – all good things by the way – whilst ignoring the physical side of life. Like looking after your body.

So, if you happen to go to church, when was the last time you heard some solid teaching about what you do with your body? What you eat. Exercise. Getting enough sleep. Most people would be shocked if their pastor preached on that.

And yet God’s own Word tells us that our body is a temple of His Holy Spirit and that if we live in His mercy and grace, that we do so only because we were purchased at a great and terrible price, through the death of Jesus on that Cross.

And when you look at it that way, you see this amazing body that you’ve been given in a whole different light.

Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. God Himself dwells in your flesh. And it was purchased at a great price, so it’s no longer your own. Treat it with the dignity that it deserves. Treat it with the respect that it deserves.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

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