Welcome to Wednesday! As we shelter in place, it’s good we can be in God’s word together.
A Recap of our week:
On Monday we focused our series, ‘New Normal’, on the most basic level of who we are – our bodies. We selected I Corinthians 6:19-20 for our spiritual guide. (Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.)
On Tuesday we looked closely at this text. We saw how many ideas were in these two verses! “Do you not know”… 1) that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit; 2) is a gift “which you have from God”; 3) is a trust from God, we “are not our own”; 4) is invaluable to God, we were “bought with a price”; 5) In conclusion, “therefore”, here’s what we need to do – “glorify God in your body”. Lots to think about! From this Scripture we see more clearly how our acts of physical fitness are an exercise in faith.
On Wednesdays we look into the world in which the Word was originally spoken. We also look at our world in which the Word speaks today. What is the context for the text?
In the Greek culture there was a glorification of the human body – for the body’s sake. The statues you see from the day have “perfect bodies”. Not only was there a glorification of the body, there was an indulgence of the body. You see that reflected in Chapter 6, verses 12-18. The body was for pleasure. Paul writes to the Corinthian Christians because they were struggling with these cultural values. He was providing a different perspective on our human bodies as creations of God.
What about today? You might say, “Doesn’t seem like things have changed a lot!” We live in a very ‘body conscious’ culture, where ‘body image’ is elevated. So many people you see in magazines or movies are perfect, have an ‘ideal body’. When this is projected as reality, what happens to our satisfaction with our bodies? What pressure does this put on our youth, particularly girls? And in our culture, how much of the thinking about our bodies revolves around pleasure? How is that projected? And how is it being lived out? In many ways we find ourselves in the position of the Corinthian Christians, we need a ‘bigger perspective’ on how we view and treat our bodies. This Scripture provides that alternative view. We can ‘glorify God’ by how we treat our bodies.
Our theme verse for this series has been I Timothy 4:7. “Train yourself in godliness”. We recognize today, what is good for our bodies is also good for our souls. We realize when we do something good for our bodies, we are building God’s good will for our health, wholeness, well-being and strength into our lives. God has given each of us a great platform In our bodies to glorify God. How you and I take care of ourselves and treat our bodies matters to us and to God!
In that thought and that blessing, I look forward to joining with you tomorrow as we see how all our ideas come together in the message for this week. See you then!
Prayer: Lord, thank you for your Word. It helps us live in our world. Your Word provides a perspective we need to hear. Your Word calls us into health and wholeness, well-being and strength which is your gift of grace to us. In that blessing we give you thanks for how we can use our bodies to glorify You. In Jesus’ name. Amen