Your body is not yours

All believers have 2 kinds of life: the physical and the spiritual. Both types of life have bodies. 1 Corinthians 15:44. Anyone born of a woman has a physical body. At the resurrection, we shall acquire a spiritual body. The focus of this article however is on our physical body.

In order to lay a foundation for this exposition, please note that every human being is made up of spirit, soul and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). These three parts of us are not ours; they belong to the Creator. Therefore one can categorically say that your life is not yours. Your spirit, soul and body are not yours. They are God’s.

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

The Bible says that Christ is our life. (Colossians 3:4). This makes the Lord Jesus the hub of our life around which everything revolves. You are not your own; you are a caretaker of yourself. Imagine that you own a rental property and you appoint a caretaker to manage the property for you. The caretaker may collect the rent, pay the mortgage and taxes, carry out necessary repairs on the house etc. But that does not make him the landlord. He can be the caretaker for the next 50 years but that does not change the title deed to his name. Similarly, everything about you is a gift from God. You own nothing. You are a caretaker of God’s bountiful blessings.

Dick Rasanen writes: “Dear God, I find it so easy to try to be the one in charge. I find it so painful to realize that I am not the one in control. Help me to know when saying “I just work here” it’s a confession, and not just a way of evading responsibility.”

Your life is not about you. Your money is not about you. Your job is not about you. Your children are not about you. Your relationships are not about you. They are all given to you by the Almighty God to be used for His glory. It is in this context that we shall now focus on your body.

And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Genesis 2:7.

The prototype body was formed from the ground by God. Therefore God made and owned your body originally. Due to the sin of Adam and Eve, you and I were sold to the sin market. It was from this market of sin that Christ bought us back unto God. This is why the Bible says, “You were bought with a price”. Christ paid for your sins with his life and blood. Now He owns you, body and all. Not only does Christ own us, we are His body parts.

Do you not see and know that your bodies are members (bodily parts) of Christ? ……….1 Corinthians 6:15a Amplified.

You are Christ’s hands, eyes, mind, legs and heart. That is your eyes, hands, feet, abdomen, etc are Christ’s eyes, nose, hands, feet, and abdomen. Your eyes should not look at that which Jesus would not approve. Your hands should not touch anything abhorrent to the Master. You feet should not go to anywhere that will grieve His Spirit within you. If you need to fast, so be it. The grumbling stomach is His and He can do whatever He wishes with it.

Whatever unions you enter into, if you are also in union with Christ, those unions should meet with Christ’s approval. They need to be pleasing to him. If you are in union with Christ, a sexual union with someone who is not your spouse is totally unfitting.

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh." But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 1 Corinthians 6:15-18.
Your body is not your personal possession. It is not to be used and abused a t your discretion. Always remember that it is not yours. The dignity of the temple is derived from who dwells in it. When we defile the body, we sin against the Resident of the body (Holy Spirit). When we defile the body, we sin against the Redeemer of the body.

“Drink water from your own well – share your love only with your wife. Why spill the water of your springs in public, having sex with just anyone? You should reserve it for yourselves. Don’t share it with strangers. Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. She is a loving doe, a graceful deer. Let her breasts satisfy you always. May you always be captivated by her love. Why be captivated, my son, with an immoral woman, or embrace the breasts of an adulterous woman? For the Lord sees clearly what a man does, examining every path he takes” (Proverbs 5:15-21, NLT).

We live in an age of loose sexual relationships. God created sex and we should listen to Him and not to the society in the last days.

“…do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God” 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10.

The Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines “fornication” as “consensual sexual intercourse between two persons not married to each other.” Sex is unacceptable before God outside of marriage. Fornication and adultery do not come cheap especially to a Christian. Proverbs 6:32. Satan has trivialized sex in order to populate hell. Don’t fall for his deceit.

Your Eyes
The use of our eyes is an issue especially for men. A man’s sexuality is visual, a woman’s sexuality is relational. Men are therefore more easily affected by what they look at. It is easy to commit fornication or adultery just by what and how you look. Consider the words of our Lord Jesus:

But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:28-29.

Sexual gratification for a man should come only from his wife, not from others scantily-clad ladies, billboards, magazines, advertisements or pornographic media. Your eyes are not yours. Dedicate them to the Lord. Follow the example of Job, described as blameless and upright in his days

I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl. Job 31:1

Impurity is a habit. Purity is a habit as well. When you eyes bounce toward a woman lustfully, they must bounce away immediately. Initially this is not easy and you may fail to arrest those filthy thoughts on many occasions. But as you keep at it, you will gain mastery especially if you persist for 3 weeks or more.

How you treat your body affects your destiny. It can be a source of selection or rejection.

No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:27

Your body is not your master. As the caretaker, you are the master. Your body was made for you, not you for your body. The desire of your body must be controlled by you. You are responsible for how your body is used and what it’s used for. Learn to discipline your body so it does not lead you to sin.

Do not let sin control you puny body any longer; do not give in to its sinful desires. Do not let any part of your bodies become tools of wickedness, to be used for sinning; but give yourselves completely to God – every part of you—for you are back from death and you want to be tools in the hands of God, to be used for his good purposes. Romans 6:12, 13 (TLB)

Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. As God’s house, your body is a prayer house.

It is written," he said to them, 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a 'den of robbers.' Mat 21:13

Always remember this when you don’t feel like praying or you want to avoid a prayer meeting or all night prayers. The admonition, “pray without ceasing” is not for pastors and bishops alone. It is for all believers.

Your body is a worship factory. You ought to bless the Lord at all times and let His praises always be in your mouth.

Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name. Heb 13:15

Secret Weapon of Satan
You need your body to fulfill your destiny. Just as Christ could not become our Redeemer without His body, you are of no use to God without a sanctified body. Heb 10:5. Your authority over Satan partly depends on the sanctity of your vessel. This is why the enemy does his very best to defile, pollute and desecrate our temple, making us unfit for our Master’s use and powerless towards him.

Meanwhile, God's firm foundation is as firm as ever, these sentences engraved on the stones:
God knows who belongs to him. Spurn evil, all you who name God as God.
In a well-furnished kitchen there are not only crystal goblets and silver platters, but waste cans and compost buckets—some containers used to serve fine meals, others to take out the garbage. Become the kind of container God can use to present any and every kind of gift to his guests for their blessing. 2 Timothy 2:19-21 (Msg).

Ministry
Your body is a ministry tool, an anointing carrier and a healing vessel.

And God did unusual and extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,
So that handkerchiefs or towels or aprons which had touched his skin were carried away and put upon the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. Acts 19:11-12
They will pick up serpents; and [even] if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will get well. Mark 16:18.
Conclusion
Give your body to the Lord. Dedicate it to Him. He made it, bought it from the sin market, sanctified it and wants to glorify Himself with it.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Romans 12:1

How you treat your body either qualifies you for the Master’s use or makes you unfit for any work of righteousness.