Owner

1 Corinthians 6:12-20

12 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. 14 Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! 16 Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.” 17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 18 Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

Examine / Explain

I feel like Paul used sarcasm with “all things are lawful for me.” The Corinthians were abusing their freedom in Christ by exercising their freedom without considering it to be in Christ. And tying themselves to sin is the same as selling out their body. It is not theirs to sell. As believers, we belong to the one who paid the price for our bodies. And just as in marriage, the husband and wife become one, so we become one with Christ. Sex with anyone ties those two together as they are committing an act reserved for the oneness of a spouse.

How do I apply this to my life?

I must understand my place in Christ. The freedom that I have cost Him everything. Do I have the ability to do whatever I please? Absolutely! Should I do whatever I please? Absolutely not! As a believer, I have a governing authority in my life. God has a purpose and vision for my life; my body does not belong to me. It must be one hundred percent under His authority. Christianity can seem confusing to an outsider. In marriage, my body belongs to my wife. In being a believer my body belongs to the Lord. And being the spiritual leader of my home, I am accountable for what I am doing with my body for my marriage and Christ. It’s like my body is 200% not mine, and yet I must live 100% like it is mine. I must steward this temple that the Holy Spirit dwells in and use it in a way that brings Him glory. If I constantly and willfully engage in sin as a believer, what does that say about my faith in God? Doesn’t it speak volumes to the fact that I don’t believe or trust Him? I’m not saying that we won’t ever sin again in this life, but what life am I living? One that could be called His?

What is my response?

Father, I must live out this life under the full expectation that you will lead me. I must steward this body in a way that displays You are the Lord of my life and this body. Fleeing sexual immorality. Turning from sin. Not from failure but from sin. I can’t have an attitude of “Oh, I’m gonna fail away so I going to do whatever I want and ask for forgiveness later.” No! We are to run the race You set before us. I am to run my race and strive not to sin against You. Relying on Jesus to give me the strength to finish this race. To never take my eyes off the prize that is Jesus. I must live in a perspective that I am not my own. Help me live that out. To do that, I must die daily. I cannot do it on my own. I need You to help me. I need reminders to keep my eyes on You. Be with me every day and I ask that I never forget You are always with me. Amen.