How To Honor God With Your Body Series

How to Honor God with Your Body

The church at Corinth was in one of the most morally tainted cities of its day. So instructing the believers in Corinth to flee from immorality, the Apostle Paul exhorted, “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 6:19-20)

We live in a culture of a body conscious and materialistic – our world is very much into the amusement and body fitness. In the markets scores of cosmetic products available to clean up, paint up, and fix-up. All because we are concern about our physical shape, fitness and wanted to make it pretty and healthier. We go to the gym, we diet. We exercise and we indulge ourselves with fine food; and even the most restrained person tends to pursue pleasure in some form. However we were not merely to make to let those things control our bodies and define our lives. Remember, the most universal beauty queen body you have ever seen in your life is going to be ashen faced in a coffin before they knows it — and then where will be all the investments in that temporary, outward beauty?

We also live in a culture "if it feels good - do it" society. This is why Bible cautions us in Matthew 26:41: “All of you must stay awake and pray that you won't be tempted. The spirit is indeed willing, but the body is weak." Our body is weak, and it is what we tend to respond to. We give in to its cravings—what it lusts for. However, to be a genuine follower of Christ we must realize that we are united with Christ -- we are a part of his body physically and spiritually and all that we do has an effect on the body “His body” Therefore we are challenged to practice spiritual discipline, all within the empowering relationship of the Holy Spirit. We can flee from practices which are harmful to us and to Christ for we must honor God with our bodies.

So what does it mean to honor God with our bodies? When God created our bodies he did so with the intention that we would use them to honor him. Our body is a precious gift from God. And the Bible is clear about its highest purpose: There is one simple reason why we ought to consider the body that we live in very important and we ought to treat it with tender loving care and that is because God made it and God values it. King David rightly said “I will praise you; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are your works; and that my soul knows right well.” (Psalm 139:140) Your body is unique. You were created by God, and you are not an accident. Your heavenly Father chose the day and the time your life would begin. God thought a lot about you. Every detail of your body, every cell and organ are God’s handiwork. There is a purpose for your body.

God’s value for the human body extends beyond creation all the way through to death. The Bible gives evidence to that, “God himself made sure that Moses body got a decent burial.” From creation, through death on into eternity; our bodies are so important to God that He has promised to raise them from the dead. So keep in mind, just like the temple, the body is a place of worship, but it is not an object of worship. We worship in this building, but we don’t worship this building, but because it is God’s building we respect it and we keep it clean and honor it by the way we occupy it. Just as we are to respect and take care of the one house (the building) we are to respect and take care of the other house (the body). That is exactly what we are told in another part of scripture, “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable,” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-4)

Remember that the day you become born again something significant happened to your life, another dimension was added to your being. Your body becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit. The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to build you up in the image and likeness of Christ to the glory of God. There is an ample reason why our body is called a “temple.” In the Bible, the temple was a place of worship. In like fashion your body is to be a place of worship. The Holy Spirit lives in my temple twenty-four hours a day, so every waking moment my body is to be a place where God is worshipped and God is honored. Your body is not a hotel with check out time at one o’clock on Sunday when church is over. Your body is a temple where the Spirit of God resides every moment every day.