Holding to Truth

holding to truth in love for the building up of the Body of Christ

Do You Consider Your Body as a Temple of the Holy Spirit?

Do you consider that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you…” 1 Cor. 6:19

Are you  a believer in Christ?  Then your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit!

It’s really important for you to see your body as the Lord does and learn to  care for your body for His purpose.

Do you  consider your body to be troublesome–plagued by sickness, injuries, allergies and  more?

Regardless, the Bible calls it an “earthen vessel”  that contains a priceless treasure—the Christ of glory. It’s this precious treasure that makes an “earthen vessel” like you and me a “temple of the Holy Spirit.”

First Corinthians 6:19-20 says,

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price. So then glorify God in your body.”

So in this post we’ll consider God’s plan for our body according to His Word. We’ll see how He preserves our body in His salvation and how we can care for our body, as His temple, by following His indwelling Spirit in our spirit.

God’s plan for our body as a temple of the Holy Spirit

First Corinthians 6:13, footnote 2 in the Recovery Version gives a bird’s-eye view of God’s plan for our body,

“Our body was created for the Lord, and the Lord within us is for our body. He feeds it with material food (Psa. 103:5) and gives it His resurrection life (Rom. 8:11), which swallows its death element along with its weakness and sickness. Eventually, He will transfigure it, conforming it to His glorious body. We should not abuse it by committing fornication.”

First, our body was “created  for the Lord”—He created us for His purpose

God has a purpose for your body. It’s an earthen vessel to contain Christ, the most valuable treasure.  To be a fitting container for Christ, God made you as His vessel with three parts—spirit, soul and body.

For more appreciation of this point, you may want to read, How God Created You with a Body, Soul and Spirit to Contain Him.

We’ve pointed out that our spirit is crucial because our spirit can contact and receive the Lord.

We’ve also pointed out in another post that our soul is important  because it’s the means for us to express the Lord. And that’s right.

But without your God-created body you’d have no way to contact all the things in this material universe. Without your body you’d have no container for your soul and spirit. So you shouldn’t despise your body or mistreat it.

Rather, we need to appreciate how God made us. As believers, we need to see that we are “awesomely and wonderfully made.”

 Psalm 139:14 says,

“I will praise You; for I am awesomely and wonderfully made: Your works are wonderful, And my soul knows it well.”

So take a moment to praise and thank the Lord for how He made you,

“Lord, I praise you for making me in such an awesome and wonderful way.  I thank you for making me with a body, soul and spirit to contain You. I respect Your creation of me. Show me how You want me to take care of my body so that in it, I might fulfill Your holy purpose.”

Second, our Lord “feeds our body with material food”—He cares for our existence

God cares for our body so that we can live for Him. The question is, “Do we care for our body as He does?”

He feeds it and clothes it. The Lord reminded us in Matthew 6:19-34 of our heavenly Father’s good care in providing for our food, drink and clothing. He really cares for our needs.

But we still need to cooperate with the Lord’s care for our body by:

We shouldn’t let our body control us. Rather, as Paul said, we need to buffet our body, and make it our slave. This isn’t to practice some kind of asceticism but to make our body our slave to fulfill our holy purpose.  Footnote 1 on 1 Corinthians 9:27  presents this point.

So we need to take care of our body, so that we can live a longer life to experience Christ and grow in Him, as I’ll mention in the next section.

Third, our Lord “gives our body His resurrection life”—He imparts His life into our body

From the moment we believe in the Lord Jesus, we’re regenerated, born of the Spirit in our spirit with the divine life. Our spirit is enlivened (Rom. 8:10).

Then, as we set our mind on the spirit, especially by means of prayer and the Word, our mind is renewed, and becomes a mind of life and peace (Rom. 8:6). In this way we’re being transformed in our soul.

But what about our body? As we cooperate with the Lord, He gives divine life to our mortal body. Christ’s resurrection life swallows the death element in our body along with its weakness and sickness.

Romans 8:11 says,

 “And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.”

Maybe this was your experience: You knew you should spend time with the Lord. But, you couldn’t  stay awake to pray or read God’s Word. However, when the Lord gives His life to your mortal body, you’re energized to pray, read His Word and live a life for His purpose.

Fourth, “He will transfigure our body”–He will conform our body to His glorious body

Philippians 3:21 says,

“Who will transfigure the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of His glory…”

Finally, at His second coming, Christ will transfigure our body, making it a glorified body, like the body of His glory.

In this way, God will complete the work of His salvation by making us the same as Christ in all three parts of our being–spirit, soul and body.

“Glorify God in your body”–today

But what should we do now? We should glorify God in our body.

As 1 Corinthians 6:20, note 2  points out, to glorify God in our body is to “allow God to occupy and saturate our body and express Himself through our body as His temple.”

Here are a couple of ways to glorify God in your body as the temple of the Holy Spirit:

1. Put to death the practices of your body by the Spirit (Rom. 8:13). To take care of your body so that it can serve God’s purpose, the Lord may touch you on certain practices of your body that are a hindrance to His purpose that need to be dealt with by His Spirit.

For example, He might touch you regarding how late you stay up at night. Hanging out on the computer too late may make it difficult for you to get up in the morning to begin your day with Him.

2. Present your body as a living sacrifice to God (Rom. 12:1). Each morning, when you get up, present your body to the Lord. We may say that we love the Lord, but without presenting our body, with our time, we’re not being practical.

He may want us to read His Word, pray, preach the gospel to the unsaved, or participate in Christian gatherings for the building up of His Body. This kind of service requires the presenting of our body, with our time.

Even if you feel that you don’t have much to offer the Lord, presenting your body means a lot. It is the beginning of a Christian living that can fulfill His purpose.

Maybe you can add to this list of ways to glorify God in your body. Please share your appreciation in a comment.

References and Further reading:

About Tom Smith

Hi. My name is Tom Smith. I'm the writer behind Holding to Truth in Love, and I love the Lord Jesus and His life-giving Word. Please feel free to send me an e-mail through the contact page if you have any questions. I hope you'd take a moment to subscribe to the Holding to Truth blog. Then you'll be sure not to miss a post. Thanks!

9 Replies

  1. Ruth

    Yesterday , I found that I could not and did not want to draw near to The Lord. I spent the afternoon listless and trying to fill myself with things to substitute The Lord. When I went to bed last night, I told The Lord I cannot make it on my own and that He has to do it, my reading the Word, my waking up in the morning to draw near to Him , my praying to Him.. Yesterday , my spirit ,soul and body was in total anarchy ..
    Praise The Lord, Today , He worked out what I cannot do. All I need to do is to cooperate according to His operation within me and just move with His anointing to present my spirit and soul and consequently my body to Him. God wants me to know Him as the I am and to know myself as not… There is no need to struggle to try to present our bodies a living sacrifice . All we need to do is to open to Him and allow Him to Be . Amen.

    1. Tom Smith

      Amen. Our Lord is the I AM and we are not. We only need to cooperate to allow Him to operate in us. Yes, just open to Him and allow Him to Be. When we call on His name, He becomes whatever we need. When we receive His Word by prayer, He supplies us with the life to meet what He requires.

      1. Emily

        At times, I found myself actually thinking something else while calling on the name of the Lord. I felt the calling became a duty and I just hurried to finish it. How long should I really spend with the Lord in the morning? Thanks.

        1. Tom Smith

          There is no set amount of time to spend with the Lord. Remember you’re learning to know the most wonderful Person. Learn to just love Him, sing to Him, and take His Word as your food. Here are a couple posts that will help you to pray simple morning prayers and to be nourished with God’s Word. When calling on the Lord becomes routine, you may want to sing to the Lord and turn the lyrics of appropriate hymns into your personal prayer. Here is one hymn that has often helped me in my morning times. The lyrics can easily be turned into your personal prayer.

  2. One very practical way I discovered I can glorify God in my body is to not linger in bed in the morning but give the Lord the preeminence by giving Him the first time after I wake up! It may not be very loud or exercised, but to contact the Lord first thing in the morning sets the tone for the day and keeps me closer to Him!

    Thank you for your sharing, brother, I really enjoyed it!

    1. Tom Smith

      Very good point. For us to glorify God in our body, the first step we need to take is to lift our body from the bed first thing in the morning to give the Lord the best part of our day. Then we need to open our mouth to speak out our love for the Lord Jesus, to praise Him and feed on His Word. When we’re filled with the Lord first thing in the morning, we’ll be prepared to glorify Him in our body throughout the day. Thanks for the comment.

  3. Thank you for giving me the hope and encouragement i looked for this morning. May the Lord bless and keep you.

    1. Tom Smith

      Glad you found the the blog and real hope and encouragement in our dear Lord Jesus revealed and conveyed through His living word. The more we pray over His living words the more we are filled with Him as the reality of all the promises of God (2 Cor. 1:20). Do come back often. I hope you’ll check out our latest post on enjoying the riches of Christ. What a treasure store of Christ we have in God’s word!

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