Dave's Diary

We continue to reflect on why we are commanded to love our neighbours as we love ourselves.

Prayer before Reading:

Join the Psalmist in this simple prayer before you read,

“LORD, satisfy me in the morning with Your unfailing love, that I may sing before You and be glad all my days!” (Psalm 90:14 adapted)

Now spend a moment quietly getting focused on the Lord’s presence before you read.

Daily Reading

1 Corinthians 6:14-20

The apostle Paul writes:

¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? … ¹⁹ Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?

In context, the fact that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and that we are parts of Christ’s Body are reasons Paul gives for believers not to engage in sexual immorality. But these same statements of truth are really helpful when it comes to understanding yet another reason we are called to love our neighbours.

Just as we ought to think carefully about what we should not do with Christ’s Body (of which our physical bodies are parts), and about the places and situations into which we should not take the Holy Spirit (who dwells in us), it is also helpful to think about this truth positively. How would Christ want to live through us in the world? Who would He want to minister to physically through us.

Pondering this same metaphor, Theresa of Avila expressed a lovely thought when she wrote:

“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours”.

There is no doubt that Christ loves our fellow human beings, just as He loves us. And He intends to express and manifest that love in tangible ways. In the mystery of His plan and purpose, He has decided to express His love to others through us, His Body on earth.

Christ will never force us to act as “His hands and feet” in this way, but He longs for us to do so willingly and lovingly. By the Holy Spirit’s presence in us, He urges us to do so. And, whenever we love our neighbours by helping them, serving them, being generous towards them, acting or speaking in kindness to them, Christ is in fact doing so through us. What a privilege! What an honour!

Contemplation:

Please take time to ponder this truth. Turn one or more of these statements over and over in your mind:

• My body is a temple of the Spirit.
• My body is an expression of the earthly Body of Christ.
• Everyone I will meet today is loved by Christ.
• He wants to minister to them and bless them through me.
• How can I do that well today?

Holy Spirit, please help me to sense how Christ wants me to act towards others on His behalf today. And give me the courage and strength to do so. Amen.