Letter from Exile 15
God’s Word: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Reflection:
Reading this verse, I immediately imaged my 7th grade PE teacher (standing in as a sex education teacher) gruffly saying to the class, “You don’t want gonorrhea, do you?! Now then, I have a few transparencies for the overhead projector…” Cringy!
But upon further inspection, this is a fantastic passage for us. Do you know why? It shows that God cares about our bodies. Let me explain. In the Old Testament, God commanded Israel to build a temple, and every Jew understood that it was the dwelling place of the immediate presence of God. And so great care was taken with the temple.
Borrowing upon this, Paul says, “Don’t you know that God’s Spirit dwells in you? What a gift! Take care of yourself. Don’t hate your body--love it and care for it! Treat it with dignity and respect!” See, God loves your body because it was His idea. He made you. And when Jesus died on the cross, he died physically. And he also resurrected physically.
In the new heavens and new earth, you are fully you, spirit and body--perfectly redeemed.
I am sorry to disappoint you if you thought that upon death you turn into a ghost or an angel. (Pop culture has done a number on our imagination!) Nope. In the new heavens and new earth, you are fully you, spirit and body--perfectly redeemed. That is the whole point of the “Day of the Resurrection.”
Do you remember the question from the Heidelberg Catechism that we recite together in church?
We asked: What is your only comfort in life and death?
We answered: “That I am not my own, but belong with BODY and SOUL, both in life and death, to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.”
Do you see the emphasis of body and soul together? And because God made us with a body and a soul, those two aspects of you have an inseparable relationship with one another. How you treat one, affects the other. Doctors have long noted that the bodies of those who live under great emotional stress and trauma begin to break down.
And the other direction is true too. If you are careless with your body, it will poison your soul. In our passage today, Paul is saying to believers, “Don’t be careless sexually with your body! Sex is beautiful and sacred, so don’t treat it as if it were nothing more than a primitive appetite. It is not harmless! Misusing your body sexually will make your heart sick!”
This is a timely word for us. How come? In quarantine, you and I (and our children) are spending more time on screens than ever before. School, information, news, video conferencing, work, church...screen, screen, screen. Satan would love nothing more than to use that screen to prey upon your body and sexuality. Satan wants you to get so caught up into some hidden sexual life, entreating you to use your body irreverently (as if the Spirit didn’t dwell in you), until your soul gets the spiritual version of COVID-19.
When you are kind to your soul, your body thrives. And when you are kind to your body, your soul thrives.
We must warmly encourage one another without judgment. The battle is real.
I really want us to fight this battle together. When you are kind to your soul, your body thrives. And when you are kind to your body, your soul thrives. We must warmly encourage one another without judgment. The battle is real.
In fact, I know that for most of you reading this, a measure of shame and guilt is flooding your heart. Fight it! Shame is Satan’s secondary weapon to make your soul sick. God is not ashamed of you! Jesus does not regret giving up his body and surrendering his soul to REDEEM YOURS! “You were bought with a price.” Now is no time for shame, judgment, or self-hatred. Let God’s feverish love for you empower you to walk in new joy and freedom.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I know that I have a long history of sexual brokenness. You know my temptations and my weaknesses, so I invite you to strengthen my resolve to grow. Holy Spirit, you have sealed me. Give me strength to resist shame and walk in new freedom. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Praying outside of ourselves:
Pray for churches to creatively use technology in ways that bless, not enslave.
Pray for healing for those whose bodies are failing them--and that their spirits would thrive.
Pray against depression and cabin fever that comes with extended quarantine.