Text- 1 Thessalonians 5:23 "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ"
Man is tripartite being:
He is a Spirit
He has a Soul
He lives in a Body
When it comes to our walk with God, a lot has been said about the roles played by the Spirit and the Soul of man, but not much has been said about the role of the body.
As ambassadors of Christ to the world, it is our body that gives us validation to exist on this earth. Our bodies are like the legal tenders that make it possible for us to represent Christ here… The death of the body is the end of ambassadorial duties on this earth. So then, there are at least three major roles of the body:
1. The body is our avenue for doing good and bringing pleasure to God. “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” – 2 Corinthians 5: 9-10
Actions are expressed through the body. Just as sinners do evil with their physical bodies, we also need our body to do good deeds and bring pleasure to God. In fact, Bible says that at the judgment seat of Christ, our reward will be according to the things done in the body.
2. The body is the instrument with which we fulfil God’s will. “Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, You had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—In the volume of the book it is written of Me—To do Your will, O God” –Hebrews 10: 5-7
No doubts, you have a great destiny, but you need your body to fulfil God’s will.I have told the story before, of a preacher who died at a very young age. Hemade a statement at his death bed; he said "God gave me a message and sent mewith a horse; I killed the horse before delivering the message". His eyes werefull of regrets.
3. The body is our medium of expressing Christ to the world.
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved meand gave himself for me.” – Galatians 2:20
It is with our bodies that we carry out our ambassadorial duties of expressing the nature of Christ to the world around us.
In conclusion, you know the old saying, “First you eat to live, and then you live to eat”? Well, it may be true that the body is only a temporary thing, but that’s no excuse for stuffing your body with food, or indulging it with sex. Since the Master honors you with a body, honor him with your body! (1 Corinthians 6:13 MSG)
PRAYER
I consecrate my body to God today. With my body, I’ll honor God and bring pleasure to Him every day of my life. I’ll use my body as an instrument to fulfil God’s will and as a medium of expressing Christ to the world.