05/19/2021
Wednesday in the Word
“Not Mine”
May 19, 2021
“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NLT
I referenced this scripture in last week’s post. (Where is This Going?) Let’s double down on this theme. The calling of the Gospel of the Kingdom is to follow Jesus so fully that we consider ourselves as dead to sin and alive to God in Christ (Romans 6:11) The Gospel calls us to view the idea of freedom as a grateful child and servant who has been set free to serve and love the King. The main sticking point for so many people, with few exceptions, is the demand of the call to love and submit to the Lord in our body, our mind (will), and spirit.
In the modern culture war in the nations, we see that this problem manifests in radicals who angrily declare, “You can’t tell me what to do with MY body!” This is bad for society in general but think about how much worse it would be if those who claim to be Christians did the same thing. Oh no, I don’t mean sign carrying crazies in the street demonstrating for the unlimited sin they desire! I’m talking about folks who attend church, sing spiritual songs, act nice most of the time and give a little money away- yet still harbor the deadly attitude of “You can’t tell me what to do with MY body!” It is passive disobedience to the Lord disguised in self-righteousness.
Herein lies the core thought of this sin, that I can belong to Jesus and still behave as if my body belongs to me. It does not! I was bought with a price by God AND I gave myself away to my wife in the covenant of marriage. She has more rights to me than I do. The reverse is true for her as well. But think about it. How many times do we use the personal pronoun `me’ or `mine’ when referring to our body, our stuff, or our `rights’? Do we not sound like a four-year-old when we do this? How often have I forgotten the cost of living selfishly? It is destructive. It trades the awesome future glory of reigning with Christ for the cheap short-term gratification of the flesh. It negates the promised blessing of faith living seen here:
“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 NLT
The things that are currently in our possession are good and from God if they were obtained through righteous means. But our bodies came from Him and have been bought back from sin by the precious blood sacrifice of Christ. He loved me and gave Himself for me. This is why I no longer have the right to demand rights. Even the material blessings are only ours through a temporary stewardship that will require me to give an account for what I did with blessings. More importantly, what I do with this body will require an accounting at the judgement seat of Christ at His coming.
Does this body and this mind, both which are being used to write this message, belong to me? No. But I gladly choose to surrender (most of the time) to the call of God. One thing that I can say with great certainty is simple: It is worth it. Any perceived loss of pleasure or material gain is based on a lie anyway. The lie says, “You had better maximize your pleasure now, just in case you find out later that this whole `eternal life thing’ was a hoax.” This comes from the one who is a liar and “the father of lies.” (John 8:44) What do you believe?
Next time we will look at the primary battlefield in the war for your allegiance: the mind that God gave you.
Grace and Peace
Pastor Robert
