“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.”
– 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NLT
In the world today, all sorts of perverse ideologies regarding sex and sexuality are being paraded as truth. You hear things like “sex-positivity,” that encourages people to explore their every fantasy, embrace all forms of sexual expression, and accept false ideas that oppose God’s word. Casual sex and other forms of carnal gratification are also touted as beneficial. However, where the world seems to be confused about this topic of sexual immorality, the Bible gives a clear warning: flee.
In our anchor verse, Apostle Paul instructs and appeals to the Corinthian christians to honour God with their bodies. While this message might not have been directly written to us, it extends and applies to every single person who has been bought with the precious blood of Christ.
In Romans 12:1, the same request is made to us:
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.”
This is a call to sexual purity, and God’s desire is that every believer responds to it.
Fleeing sexual immorality is also not old school. All sexual activity outside of a marriage between a man and a woman is forbidden in Scripture. God created sex and wants you to enjoy it with your spouse. So, asking you to wait until marriage is not a ploy to deprive you of good things. Contrary to what pop culture says, the call to sexual purity is not about patriarchy or the oppression of women; it is a direction from the Lord that every person, male and female, must obey.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve had a sexually active past; you can still honour God with your body. You become a brand new person when you receive the life of Christ. You are blood-washed, sanctified, and justified. (2 Corinthians 5:17, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
It is no secret that God places great value on us and our bodies, so much that He paid for us with His blood. When we became children of God, the Holy Spirit came to dwell within us, and our bodies became temples of the Most High God.
Therefore, we are called to treat our bodies as holy. Instead of being self-indulgent slaves to sin, gratifying our flesh and its every desire, we ought to live as servants of God. We ought to submit ourselves to the Lordship of Christ.
Bible Reading Plan: Genesis 43-44