Background Story: The Apostle Paul wrote the 1 and 2 Corinthians as letters to the church at Corinth.

Read 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

¹² “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. ¹³ You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. ¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶ Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”¹⁷ But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.

¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. ¹⁹ Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

Big Idea: Jesus is Lord over our bodies!

I’m going to be honest. When I get up in the morning and look in the mirror, my first thought is NOT, “wow, look at that temple.” But verse 19 says that my body is a temple, a house, or home in which the Holy Spirit dwells. As I go about my day, looking in the mirror, feeding and dressing this body, and making decisions on how I will use this body, the Holy Spirit is right there with me.

This passage goes on to say that, “You are not your own; you were bought at a price.” Jesus paid the price for our sin, shame, and eternal separation from God with His own body when He was nailed to the cross. 1 Peter 2:24 says that, “He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right.”

Jesus paid the price taking our punishment on His shoulders. Living under the Lordship of Jesus, we daily surrender every part of ourselves including our bodies. Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

How does this reality affect the mirror, the feeding, the dressing, and the decisions? The reality of the cross changes everything! Whether we struggle with body image, food/ eating issues, sexual sin, vaping, or any action or thought related to our bodies…Jesus is to be Lord of it all! Today, surrender everything including your bodies to God’s service as a temple for Him to use today for His glory. Let’s pray… Lord, today in You, may I live, and move and have my being (Acts 17:28).

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