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1 Corinthians 6:19, 20 - How Is Your Temple?

1 Corinthians 6:19, 20 (NLT) Dont you 
realize that your body is the temple of the Holy 
Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by 
God? You do not belong to yourself, for God 
bought you with a high price. So you must honor God 
with your body. 

COMMENTARY PEARL

   Paul wrote these words to counter the 
Corinthian sex obsession. "Run away from sexual sin!" 
reads the prior sentence. "No other sin so clearly 
affects the body as this one does. For sexual 
immorality is a sin against your own body." (v.18 
NLT). 
   What a salmon scripture! No message swims 
more up-stream than this one. You know the sexual 
anthem of our day: "I'll do what I want. It's my 
body." God's firm response? "No, it's not. It's 
mine." 
   Be quick to understand, God is not 
antisex. Dismiss any notion that God is antiaffection 
and anti-intercourse. After all, he developed 
the whole package. Sex was his idea. From his 
perspective, sex is nothing short of holy. 
   He views sexual intimacy the way I view 
our family Bible. Passed down from my father's 
side, the volume is one hundred years old and 
twelve inches thick. Replete with lithographs, 
scribblings, and a family tree, it is, in my estimation, 
beyond value. Hence, I use it carefully. 
   When I need a stepstool, I don't reach 
for the Bible. If the foot of my bed breaks, I 
don't use the family Bible as a prop. When we need 
old paper for wrapping, we don't rip a sheet out 
of this book. We reserve the heirloom for 
special times and keep it in a chosen place. 
   Regard sex the same way - as a holy gift 
to be opened in a special place at special 
times. The special place is marriage, and the time 
is with your spouse. 
   Casual sex, intimacy outside of marriage, 
pulls the Corinthian ploy. It pretends we can give 
the body and not affect the soul. We can't. We 
humans are so intricately psychosomatic that 
whatever touches the soma impacts the psyche as well. 
The me-centered phrase "as long as no one gets 
hurt" sounds noble, but the truth is, we don't 
know who gets hurt. God-centered thinking rescues 
us from the sex we thought would make us happy. 
You may think your dalliances are harmless, and 
years may pass before the x-rays reveal the 
internal damage, but don't be fooled. Casual sex is a 
diet of chocolate - it tastes good for a while, 
but the imbalance can ruin you. Sex apart from 
God's plan wounds the soul. 
   Your body, God's temple. Respect it. [Max 
Lucado Daily Devotional at maxlucado.com] 

LINK FOR FURTHER STUDY ON THIS PASSAGE


http://www.abible.com/devotions/2016/20160217-1018.html 

YOUR COMMENTS

If anyone has a paraphrase, commentary or 
testimony on this passage of Scripture, either 
personal or otherwise, I would be interested in 
hearing from you.  Thanks in advance and let's keep 
uplifting Jesus that all might be drawn to Him. Fred 
Gibbs