Day 323, or November the 19th. Eat, drink, and
be merry? Our thoughts today are from 1 Corinthians
chapter 6, verse 20. You were bought at a price,
therefore honour God with your bodies. And now
the big picture surrounding this verse. Paul
tells the Corinthian believers to be careful
how they relate to unbelievers. In that cesspit
of a place where immorality was the norm, that
was some challenge from Paul. It's becoming more
of a challenge for us in the 21st century too.
Having spoken about relationships in general,
Paul then goes on into some detail as he explains
what he senses God wants in marriages, plus a
few comments from the Apostle which he makes
clear are not from God, but nevertheless are
sound advice in line with God's teaching. And
now today's action step. For many years we rented
various offices for Walk Through the Bible. Each
involved a new legal agreement, which had to
be signed and honoured. This seriously limited
what we could do with these offices, and where
we could erect shelving and the like. I suppose
it was only fair, as we had not spent money to
buy and own them. Our landlord owned them. Similarly,
those of us who believe in Jesus Christ have
been bought. and our bodies therefore no longer
belong to us, but God still allows us to use
them. So just how can we honour God with our
bodies? We have to start with accepting that
we all have different bodies, and for some of
us, they may not have been looked after very
well before we became Christians. However, the
Bible clearly reminds us that when we become
believers, we have a responsibility to honour
God with our bodies because they are no longer
ours. However we measure this, are you, am I,
honouring God with our body? If not, what has
to change? Inevitably, changes will probably
impact our eating, exercise, social activity
and thought life. If anything results in God
not being honoured by your body, then maybe it
has to go sooner rather than later, if you are
ever to continue to mature in Christ.