God’s Reputation

I Cor 6:20 "For you were bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's."

Now the hammer was coming down. This church was really messed up. Not only was a son messing around with his step mother, but all kinds of junk had infiltrated the church. Just like Paul said, the leaven was spreading. These people were taking each other to court. They were cheating other people. It looks like sexual immorality was spreading. And Paul had a warning for them, fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals (oops…can't say that), sodomites, thieves, the covetous, drunkards, revilers, extortioners were not going to inherit the kingdom of God. People who practice these things prove one thing, they don't have a relationship with Christ and their eternity will not be pleasant. And Paul's reminder was: "Hey, you were like this but no more because you were washed, set apart and declared innocent in the name of Christ…don't forget it. You were bought at a great price, the price of the life of the Son of God, so don't use your body for sexual immorality."

This is a tough subject. People want to do what they want to do with their bodies. If they want to have multiple sexual partners, that is no one's business but their own. That may be true, but the end result is a mess of a life. And if you are a believer, then everything changes. No longer is your body your own. No longer is your spirit (your inner man) your own. I don't have control of what I do with my body any longer. I don't have control of my attitudes any longer. It all has to be controlled by God because He bought me. He paid for me. He bought me back and brought me into His family. I have to live like I am a member of His family and be concerned about only one thing, glorifying God with all that I do, with all that I say, with all that I think. God does not want His family name played with. His reputation is at stake. If I claim to be a Christian, if I claim to be a "Christ-one" then I need to live like it and glorify Him with my body and my spirit.

This kind of sheds a new light on why we should take care of our bodies. This sheds a new light on why we should not feed it garbage, or let our mind dwell on smut, or allow our eyes to wander. This is God's reputation that we carry with us…every day of our lives. In fact a positive twist on this is that we should use our bodies and our spirits to lift up Christ. To glorify Him.

People should see me and really see how amazing God is. I wonder….