09/30/2018
Do we think of our faith in God, and Jesus Christ to be entirely spiritual? Do we continue on in the sins of the flesh even after we have presented ourselves as believers to the Lord? Resisting those things is difficult, and this is why Satan attacks us there so often by finding this weakness in our armor.. Here he finds advantage against our physical body, and breaches the walls of our spirituality.
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
Romans 12:1 ESV
We are told to not only believe in God, but to present our bodies to Him as a living sacrifice, and to make this offering holy and acceptable to Him. This is the product of our spiritual worship... it is the fruit of our inward faith. Bringing our body under the subjugation of God is hard, but it is imperative. Listen to these words of Andrew Murray...
“To have every appetite of the body under the rule and regulation of the Holy Spirit appears to some unnecessary, to others too difficult. And yet it must be so if the body is to be holy, as God’s temple, and we are to glorify Him in our body and our spirit.” - Andrew Murray
If you were summoned to visit the Queen of England, and the driver of the car pulled up in front of a rundown shack and told you that this is the queen’s home, and she is waiting for you inside... what would you think? Why certainly you would think you had been duped, or at very least there must be some mistake here! Our bodies are similar, and speak to who we are inside. If you are outwardly exhibiting a sinful life then what must be behind your eyes?
William Shakespeare is quoted as saying “The eyes are the window to your soul.” This was an astute observation in that our eyes often betray us when we attempt to lie, but it serves here to demonstrate a link between our spiritual selves, and the physical wrapper we inhabit. What is transpiring internally within our spirit manifests itself outwardly in our bodies.
“Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
1 Thessalonians 5:22-23 ESV
Our bodies... they are truly the weakest link in our armor against sin and temptation. This is why Satan attacked Eve there. Remember his words to her, and her response?
“But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”
Genesis 3:4-6 ESV
The woman saw three things as she was tempted... it was good for food, it was a delight to the eye, and that it would make her wise. In today’s language we would say that it was nourishing and tasted good, it looked wonderful, and that it was good for us, or... that this is the food of God Himself. All of these temptations are of the body; Satan had exploited Eve’s weakness. He attacked her spirit by breaching the temple walls... her body.
We all are weakest in our flesh, we eat what we shouldn’t because it pleases our taste, we have illicit sex because it pleases our desires, we steal because it satisfied our wants, and we lie because it either protects us, or it advances us physically. There are so many more such physical temptations but I believe these are perhaps the most common. So this is what surrounds the windows to our souls. When we stand on the sidewalk in front of our home, what do we see? Better yet, what do others see? I say “what do others see” because when one lives in squalor long enough he begins to lose sight of its smell, and ugliness.
So today I am going to ask you to conduct an experiment. For the next two weeks do everything in your power to live an outwardly sanctified life. If you are gluttonous then diet, if you are sexually promiscuous then abstain from sex, if you indulge in pornography then don’t view it. Whatever is contrary to God’s commandments and expectations then curtail that activity... live a life outwardly that reflects what you feel God expects of you spiritually. Then, after the two weeks, look at your house from the street, and begin to see it as others do... to smell the stench of it as a visitor might. Is this what you want to present to God as His temple? Is this house holy, and acceptable?
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you not only for my spirit, but for my body, mind, and soul. I thank you Holy Father for giving me the ability through Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, to clean up the sin and mess I have in my life. Strengthen me, and instruct me Father, as I go about removing temptation and making my body a holy and acceptable temple for you. I know that Jesus abides in you, and you in Him, and I also know that I abide in Jesus and He in me... so help me Merciful Father as I prepare myself to be your abode... your temple. Show me my shortcomings Lord, and help me see myself as you do. Reveal to me my true nature and convict me in my sinfulness so that I can clean up the squalor and make myself ready for you. Take this rundown shack and convert it into a shining mansion! I love you Gracious Father, and want to present myself spotless to you, washed clean in the blood of Jesus not just inwardly, but outwardly. Let me glorify you in body, mind, and soul Father, because you are my Holy God, and my desire is to stand before you and say Holy, Holy, Holy are you the Master of my life, and He who inhabits the temple that is my body. Praised be your name now and forevermore!
Rich Forbes