“‘Everything is permissible for me’ -- but
not everything is beneficial. ‘Everything
is permissible for me’ -- but I will not be mastered by anything. ‘Food for the stomach and the stomach for
food’ -- but God will destroy them both.
The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the
Lord for the body. -- Do you not know
that your body is a temple 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
honor God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:12-13, 19-20)
It seems that Paul starts this passage by
quoting some popular sayings of the day -- and he didn’t deny their
truthfulness. We don’t live according to
a legalistic code of conduct. We’ve been
freed from that in Christ. “Everything
is permissible for me.” But that doesn’t
mean it’s a good idea to do “everything.”
While permissible, there are many things that are harmful to our
physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual lives. We’d be foolish to give ourselves to things
that are harmful to us or others.
While permissible, there are many things that
are dangerous, that lead to being mastered by them. Sexual immorality is one of them. How many people have been trapped by sexual
sin because they have given in to pornography or in other ways started down the
road to what the world calls sexual “freedom.”
Drugs and alcohol fall into that category, too. Many people have been trapped in chemical
addictions as they started down a road called experimentation. In seeking freedom, they have discovered
themselves to be slaves.
“Food is for the stomach and the stomach for
food.” But that doesn’t mean we should
live for eating! There is more to life
than the fulfillment of our physical desires and needs. In fact, those physical desires and needs are
only temporary and to give our lives to them is very short-sighted and foolish.
The bottom-line -- even our physical bodies
and how we use them belong to the Lord.
He bought us -- body, mind, and spirit.
Our goal is to honor Him -- body, mind and spirit! For the price He paid for us, He deserves all
of us!!
His, by Grace,
Steve
No comments:
Post a Comment