TAKING CARE OF THE TEMPLE

1 CORINTHIANS 6:19-20 NKJ 
19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. 

Paul is still dealing with behavior in a city known for being particularly sex crazy.   

From what historians tell us about Corinth, it was pretty much anything goes.  Most likely worse than we see around us today.   

Here was Paul's closing argument for staying sexually pure.  Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.  You are not your own; you were bought with a price.  That price was the blood and broken body of the Lord Jesus.  And you are to glorify God in your body and spirit, which are God's.  God has done some wonderful things for us and in us.  He has paid a very costly price for us.  He has given us His Holy Spirit to live in us.  In fact, our bodies are the temple, the dwelling place, of the Holy Spirit.   

Paul's encouragement is strong here.  Take care of your body; it's the temple of the Holy Spirit.  You belong to God, so don't live unaccountable.  Take care of the temple.   

APPLICATION 

This application is straightforward, but it's also a powerful truth.  We are not the same people we were before Christ.  We are now God's special people, and we are different from the world without God.  So, we need to live differently.  Different in our sexual morals, business ethics, and how we treat people.   

I held my children accountable for their actions and to what our family stood for.  How much more should God require from those He bought, cleansed, and made temples of His Spirit?   

Sobering?  Yes.  Possible?  Definitely.  We have what it takes to keep a clean temple in an unclean culture.   

PRAYER 

Dear Father,  

Help me maintain my temple in such a way that I glorify You.  Thank You for buying me out of darkness so I can live for You.