Dave's Diary

Daily Reading: 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

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 honour God with your bodies.

In today’s reading we really get down to the heart of the Christian value of sanctity, which is the recognition that my body and your body are temples of the Holy Spirit. Through Jesus’ death on the Cross, we have been bought out of slavery to sin – as whole people. As Christian disciples, our minds, souls, spirits and our bodies were ransomed by the life-blood of Jesus, and now we have dedicated them to Him as vessels for His presence and His glory.

Having received the precious Gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit we are, like the tabernacle in the wilderness, portable dwelling places of the Most High and Holy God! We are holy. We are sacred. We are set apart to God. And when, through faith in Jesus, we dedicated ourselves to His Lordship, we were called by the Lord to live out that holiness in the way described by the apostle Paul in Romans 12:1,

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship.“

To live by the inner value of sanctity is to live as a set-apart one. It is to live with a constant mindfulness of the presence of God, and of His desire for me to reflect His beauty and glory in the world by the way I live. To live by the value of sanctity is to recognise the truth of v.17: “Whoever is united with the Lord is one with Him in spirit.” This clearly means that I carry the responsibility to honour the presence of God within me by reflecting His holiness, by allowing the Holy Spirit to express His beautiful holiness through me, and by striving to please Him in everything I say and do. My inner status of holiness is to be reflected in an outer life of holiness.

One specific area of application highlighted by 1 Corinthians 6 is our sexuality. Let’s end this devotion by reading that application again, but let’s also remember that the same principle of living by the value of sanctity is relevant to every area of our lives:

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 honour God with your bodies.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, please fill me afresh with the Holy Spirit today. I surrender myself to You, in mind, spirit and body. Let Your presence and holiness shine through me into the world through all that I say and do. May my life be to the glory of my Saviour Jesus. Amen.