“The body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.” (1 Corinthians 6:13)
Perhaps you have heard the first part (“not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord”), but how frequently have you heard the second part (“the Lord for the body”)? Your body, that two-legged thing that you are, with all its wobbly bits—the Lord is for it. He is intended for it, you might say.
It’s the promise that the Church may not make frequently enough. God sent our Lord Jesus for a specific purpose: to become flesh (John 1:14), that He might bring about “the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23). These bodies, headed towards the grave—God wants them. He wants you, flesh and bone, both for your sake and for His glory, that His creation might experience the joy for which He created, namely, His Son.
Thus He sent His Son to cancel the power of sin, death, and the devil and to reveal God’s redemption in His own flesh. This flesh He now bestows on the Church, His new creation, by joining believers to Himself in the Spirit and promising them a share in His resurrection (what else is Holy Communion?). Your body (you!) has a Lord, a groom and a guardian, and therefore, it has a future (a happy one!). And so, as St. Paul writes, glorify God in your body (1 Corinthians 6:20).
LET US PRAY: O God, who created our father, Adam, from the dust of the earth, and fashioned our mother, Eve, from his side: we praise You for Your new Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son, sent into our flesh that our flesh might rise in His Spirit. Grant us grace to glorify You in our bodies, living for You, even as You live for us; through Christ our Lord. Amen
Pastor Steven K. Gjerde
Zion, Wausau
