Featured Favorite: Glorify God in Your Body

Eugenio Zampigni (Flickr)

Therefore, glorify God in your body. (1 Cor 6:20)

What do you see when you look at your body? God created our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit, sacramentals of procreation and means of holiness. They are fearfully and wonderfully made yet often desecrated by sin or used to tempt others. God meant for us to enjoy our sexuality in a holy way. He reveals himself to us through the beauty of our own bodies.

As a temple of the Holy Spirit, there are places I can’t go, movies I can’t see, fashions I can’t wear because they dishonor the human body, and therefore, Christ’s body. Good stewardship of our bodies involves keeping them healthy and strong, and dressing attractively, yet modestly.

Romans 13:14

We are to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh,” (Rom 13:14).

God created our bodies to translate his invisible spirit into readable terms. We dress in harmony with our inner tabernacle and thus attract others to the Lord, not to ourselves. We decorate our body temple with the same reverence we apply in our churches to inspire worship not of the temple, but of the God within the temple.

We can love God with our whole being by honoring his will for our body. We can choose to use our body temple to become one body, one spirit with Jesus and not to satisfy a temporary demand of our body—whether adultery or gluttony.

Choose to glorify God

Yes, with his grace, we can choose to give our body what it needs and not obey our fleeting compulsions. We can choose to glorify God with our body.

God sees our true image reflection of his life unfolding in our body, mind and spirit. He wants our mirror to brightly shine his reflection until the day we see him face to face. He meant for our body to belong entirely to him so that we will become more like him in every way possible.

How do you mirror God’s character with your body?

(© 2012, revised 2016 Nancy HC Ward)