Thought for 9 September 2024

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Don’t you realise 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 honour God with your body.

This passage comes at the end of a chapter when Paul in his ministry to the Corinthians points out that certain sins being committed at that time were sins against God himself.  Much of this was directed to those who practiced sexual sin, but idol worshippers, thieves, greedy people, swindlers and drunkards were also included.

It’s a lot to take in when you come to believe the Holy Spirit lives within us every second of our lives and that this is a precious gift from God.

There was an incident on the radio this morning when a spurned male got very drunk and drove his car through a window of the business owned by the woman who had spurned him.  She only narrowly escaped serious injury, or even death.  It is normal and most would say right to solely consider the trauma suffered by the woman who was attacked but we can only imagine how that man was thinking that led him to commit such a crime.  He must have been incredibly jealous and resentful (in what part of our body do we store feelings like this?).  We don’t know if he was injured.  He must have known that this action would end up with him being imprisoned yet he still went ahead with it.  I would like to believe that if he had the Holy Spirit within him, it would have made the man stop and think again.  Another question must surely be what causes or influences a man or woman to make a decision such as this.

If we are believers, we must believe that God made us and God knows us and that every hair of our head is numbered.  God has sent his Holy Spirit to influence us to do the right thing when we have a choice to make.  For us who do claim to know God, we must remember that being loved by God comes at the high price that Jesus paid for each and every believer at Calvary.  We need to recognise and appreciate this gift from God that lives within us every day of our lives.

Prayer – Heavenly Father, we pray that you would give us an awareness of the God-given Holy Spirit living within each one of us.  Help us be responsible with and respectful of the bodies that you have given us.  Help us be aware that they are gifts from God and that our heavenly futures have been purchased by your son who was and is without sin.   Amen