Skip to main content

Glorify God

             Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. (I Corinthians 6:19-20)

 

Lots of conviction here. The best way to describe it is that I have lost the war with my body. It not only doesn’t glorify God, but most of the time, it’s a disgrace. I could come up with a list of excuses, but the reality is that I don’t want to expend the time, money, and energy required to focus on doing the things that would discipline my body and cause it to be what I think would glorify God. If I did them, I suspect I wouldn’t glorify God as much as I would glorify myself.

There are several things I don’t do: I don’t drink, smoke, or otherwise use alcohol or those substances generally considered “recreational drugs.” I’m not sexually active. My “snack food” is popcorn (sprayed with butter-flavored spray, not drizzled with butter) or it’s some “normal” food – unless someone brings treats to work. Most of the coffee I drink is decaf. I don’t go out to eat unless I’m on a trip. But I don’t exercise enough, and I eat too much food. Even healthy food in greater quantity than needed isn’t healthy. And while one can never have another glass of alcohol or never smoke another cigarette, it’s not really advisable to decide to never eat another bit of food.

But does my not doing the things I don’t do glorify God? Would my doing the things I should do glorify God? What glorifies God?


My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove

to be My disciples. (John 15:8) 

I’m not going to suggest that how I treat my body – my gluttony and self-indulgence – doesn’t matter. But what if the point is not my/your body and is God’s glory? I have three friends who have (had) broken backs. There are things they can’t do with their bodies now, and there are things at least one of them may never be able to do again. Does this mean they can’t glorify God with their bodies? And if bearing much fruit is what glorifies God, should we single out love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control? (Galatians 5:22-23)

And granted, love…self-control are separated into discrete items so that we can discuss them; they are all part of the fruit (singular) of the Spirit, and they aren’t really separable from the others. But the question remains: how does one glorify God with his/her body? The answer that comes to mind is “Now… for the next ten to thirty seconds.” How? The answer that comes to mind is “Do what’s obvious.” And when I’m done with that “now”? There’s another now and something else that’s obvious. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more