Sorry it took some time to get this up this week...let me know your thoughts
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 people commit are outside their bodies, but those who sin sexually sin against their own bodies. 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.
1 Corinthians 6:12-19
Paul is telling a bunch of new Christians how to behave because they are still learning how to live like Christians. Their focus is still mostly in the world and fleshly pleasures and not on the "up", Jesus.Because they focus on pleasures, they are being distracted from their first love, Jesus. Paul is exhorting them to live in the up more and less on the world. He is trying to help them understand that they are members of a kingdom that is not of this world.
ReplyDeleteWhat I have learned over my many years as a Christian is this. The closer your relationship is to the Lord, the more likely you are to behave as a true disciple of Christ. As you devote time each day and throughout the day to your Lord Jesus, your attitudes change. You become more like him and less likely to actions that are not "Christian-like". If circumstances in your life begin to eat into your time with the Lord and you really reflect on your life, you will find that you are beginning to stray off of the path. Hopefully, over a lifetime, your demeamor becomes to seek the Lord first in everything and to follow him.
As you become a disciple of the Lord, following more closely over a lifetime, your actions become Jesus' actions. You react first as Jesus would and you make fewer and fewer mistakes. You are no longer led astray by your own flesh and the temptations of the enemy. Always remember that when you stray, Jesus is always willing to accept you back with open arms. He is our awesome God and savior! He is willing to bring you back into the fold.