Daily
Devotional

“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” – 1 Corinthians 6:19

My parents remodeled a house last year, and they experienced some difficulty with the man who owned an adjacent house. The man did not live on his property, but he still did not want my parents’ new acquisition to affect him in any way. They went to him once and asked if he would be willing to split the cost of replacing the sewer line to the street, since the two lots shared a pipe that was desperately in need of repair, but he refused. As a result, my parents now own a home with good plumbing, but our neighbor still does not. He had the right to decide what happened on his side of the property line, and he chose not to fix his pipes.

A property line defines where one person’s property ends and another person’s begins. If we own the property, then we have control over it. Our neighbors cannot look over the fence and tell us that we must trim our bushes, build a patio, or repair our plumbing. They can give an opinion, but the decisions are ultimately ours. However, along with control over our property, we also have responsibility for it. We will be held responsible for what takes place on our side of the line. If our broken pipes cause serious damage, we will have to pay for it, not our neighbors. And if our hedges are overgrown, it reflects poorly on us, not the neighbors. Ownership, control, and responsibility go together.

Many people consider their bodies to be personal property—something that no one else has the right to make decisions about. However, today’s focus verse says that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost and we are not our own. Not only did God create us, but we have also been bought with a price. Christ’s death freed us from sin, and that transaction transferred the responsibility and control that go with ownership over to Him. Because of that, we must honor the laws and values He has established for our bodies, not the ones we might choose. If we say we belong to Christ but do not obey His principles, it ultimately reflects poorly on Him, and we will reap the consequences of our disobedience.

We could have no better person directing our decisions than the loving God of Heaven. When we give Him complete control, He will make our lives beautiful.