Sunday 24 August 2014

"DO YOU NOT KNOW ..." Thoughts from Today's bible Readings - August 25th


“DO YOU NOT KNOW …?”

            We live in a world which likes to say that ‘You are the most important person!’  Self-centredness is encouraged – and that is understandable if you believe there is no God, that everything that exists just evolved – mysteriously creating itself: but we know this is all a human delusion!
            We must look at the reality of life – from God’s perspective – and Paul is a great help to us, for that is how he sees life as we read today in 1 Corinthians ch. 6 as he encourages the believers to see life from this perspective.  Some of them were misbehaving; there is “sexual immorality” in Corinth.  He asks, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?” [v.15]  
       Then he adds another question, “Do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her?” [v.16]   These points are a prelude to his appeal to them to see the bigger scene - of what their lives really should become  - to ‘grow’ and see spiritual realities, recognising more and more their position as “members of Christ.”  That is a wonderful, but at the same time, a challenging vision to conceive in our mind.
        “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you which you have from God?” This is followed by an equally significant point, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.  So glorify God in your body.” [v.19,20]  How can we, do we, accomplish this?
              In v.17 we read, “He who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him”  A unique oneness of mind develops! But recall what we read at the end of ch. 2,  “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God …. They are spiritually discerned … For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him.  But we have the mind of Christ.”   The next chapter shows the Corinthians had not yet developed this – and us?  The Corinthians were not yet “spiritual people” but “infants in Christ” [3 v.1]  - and us?
Another vital question - how do we “glorify God in (y)our body?”   How did Jesus?  He set the example, followed by Paul, our Lord had total commitment to serve God in all that he said and did – to make God’s will – his will.  As we do this, we realize more and more clearly what it is to “have the mind of Christ.”  As we change the way we think we become more and more selective of the things in life that help us to become more like Christ.  Do you not know this?  Is Christ the most important person in your life?  He should be.

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