"My Body; His Temple" September 2 Readings: Isaiah 15-16, 1 Corinthians 6, Psalm 104:1–8, Proverbs 21:29–31

  

Reading the Bible in 2025

Each day this year, we will read a selection from the Old Testament, the New Testament, a portion of the Psalms, and a part of Proverbs. By the end of the year, you will have read the entire Bible. We read this way to give you a bit of variety. 

NOTE: If you get behind, do not give up. Read today's readings and try to catch up when you have a chance. The goal is not to "accomplish a task" but to meet God in his word. Read the word. Also, if you are short on time, READ GOD'S WORD and skip my devotional!

Bible Readings: Isaiah 15-16, 1 Corinthians 6, Psalm 104:1–8, Proverbs 21:29–31

    Scriptures linked to Bible Gateway in ESV version 

Daily Devotional: My Body; His Temple

Grace run amok - that was a common problem among the Corinthian Christians.

There is nothing more beautiful to the Christian than the Grace of God. We are saved by grace, not by works. But some in Corinth seemed to believe that since they were under grace, they were free to live as they pleased and indulge the flesh whenever the whim struck them. "Food for the stomach and the stomach for food," they said. If you are hungry, you eat. If you feel like having sex with someone, do it. That is the way God intended it, they claimed. And besides, since we are no longer under the law, "everything is permissible for me." Sexual immorality was rampant among the Corinthians in general and even among those in the church.

Paul was pretty forceful in his confrontation of these unbiblical and dangerous ideas. Most errors are simply truths taken out of context or balance. Did God create us male and female? Of course, he did. Was his creation "very good"? Yes, it was. Did Jesus Christ die to free us from a righteousness that is based on our ability to keep the law? Absolutely. In fact, is the enjoyment of God's creation, including sex, a gift from God? It is, within the parameters God designed. These common cliches among the Corinthians were part of the truth, but they were not the whole truth.

We were created as sexual beings, but that aspect of our nature was to be expressed only within the boundaries of marriage according to God's original intent. Paul does not equivocate at all when he commands the Corinthians, in 6:18:

Flee from sexual immorality. 

Run away. Don't play games. Don't mess around. Flee! Such sin is unthinkable for the believer, ignoring the basic truth that Christ bought us for himself by shedding his blood on the cross, and we do not belong to ourselves anymore. We are part of Christ's body, and the Spirit indwells our body. We have no right to take the bodies that Christ purchased with his blood and which the Spirit indwells and join them in acts of sexual immorality.

We were not freed from the law and redeemed by grace to indulge the flesh but to overcome it by the power of that Spirit who dwells in us. We must not even entertain the idea of using our bodies, which Christ redeemed for his glory, to be used for immorality.

No, our bodies have one purpose.

"Therefore, honor God with your bodies." (verse 20)

I do not decide my actions based on what I like or what would please me, but what would glorify the God who owns me - body, soul, and spirit!

Father, keep me pure in Christ. Help me to remember, when the enemy tempts, that I don't belong to myself, but I belong to you. May my body glorify your name.

 

Consider God's Word:

Which of these four passages spoke most clearly to you today? 

Is there sin in your life that needs to be confessed and dealt with that was revealed in one of these passages? 

Is there something in your life that needs to change?

Is there a struggle in your life that one of these passages spoke to? 

Do you recognize your body as the dwelling place of God's Spirit and use your body for his honor and glory?