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December 29, 2024
- By Ed Powell
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"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore honor God with your body." 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
The scriptural teaching of the ministry of the Holy Spirit is taught very little in some churches and practiced even less. The Holy Spirit's ministry is vital to our spiritual life. It is the Holy Spirit who awakens us to our sinful separation from God and convicts us of our sin before Him. He draws us to the Lord by revealing our need of salvation.
In the verse above the Scripture tells us of the Spirit's present ministry of living within our body, which is a temple of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit reveals God's Word to us, gives us an understanding of its truth and principles, and empowers us to live a life that will honor and glorify God. It is our ignorance of this or our choice not to embrace the Holy Spirit that leads many to an ineffective and unfruitful spiritual life. If we are to be triumphant spiritually, the Holy Spirit is the One who will empower us to be so.
We find many believers that think they are "their own." They conduct their lives as they please and have an attitude, liberty and speech much like Pharaoh. "Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go?" (Exodus 5:2). It is true that man is free from any human yoke; but no man is or can be independent of God. Man fails to realize that God has created us and has an unalienable right over us. We are not our own. We are indebted to God for our very existence. There is not one aspect of our body or mind that we can exercise that is not derived from God. We are God's by right of creation.
Secondly, as a believer, we are His by right of redemption. Because of our sin we were in bondage to the curse of the law. "All who rely on observing the law are under the curse of the law, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law'" (Galatians 3:10). But God has, in His mercy and grace, redeemed us from this bondage; "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us" (1 Corinthians 3:13).
One day a young boy was given a small sailboat and was enjoying watching it float on the lake nearby. To his dismay a strong wind came up and the small sailboat was carried out into the lake. Months later he was walking down the street in his small town and saw the sailboat in the window of a pawnshop. He rushed in and told the owner that the sailboat was his, but the owner said, "I'm sorry, but you must pay the price of redeeming it." The boy went to his penny bank and had just enough to purchase his sailboat. That sailboat was the boy's by a gift from his father but also because he paid the price to redeem it.
We are like that. God has given us life. We are His by creation. But we have lost this right through sin, which separated us from God. But God has redeemed us through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ, who paid the debt of our sin. We are His by redemption.
Paul said, "Therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will" (Romans 12:1-2).
HIS by creation...HIS by redemption! "You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore honor God with your body."
© 2007 by Ed Powell. Used by permission.
This page was reprinted by permission from: http://litmin.org/dare.php?date=2024-12-29&print=1
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