Stewardship of the human body

Scriptures abound that stress the sanctity, significance and subjection of the human body.
One powerful scripture reads, 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? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Several things can be derived from this scripture. Firstly, the church as a corporate body or the individual’s human body is the dwelling place of the Spirit of God. Thus our human bodies have a holy function. We are supposed to be earthly treasures which contain the Holy Spirit, which is the heavenly treasure.
There is a tendency among us preachers of the gospel to overly stress the importance of the human spirit to the neglect of the human body. We emphasise scriptures like walking in the Spirit so as not to gratify the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16), keeping the body under, and bringing it into subjection (1 Cor. 9:27) and the body without the spirit is dead (James 2:26).
Our error in this emphasis is not that of commission but of omission. Jesus taught about the importance of teaching the whole counsel of God when he said in Matthew 23:23, “these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” It is important to note that these scriptures are not saying that the human body is of no value or of lesser contribution to the Christian walk. What they actually talk about is the chain of command in the life of a person. The correct chain of command is: the Holy Spirit ruling the human spirit, and the human spirit ruling the soul and the body gives expression to the dictates of the human spirit. You see, all three parts are important in the life of a human being living on mother earth.
The requirement by the Spirit of God and the human spirit to use the human body gives sanctity and significance to the human body. The most important thing to do with your body is to therefore to “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service.”
Secondly, the scripture says that you are not your own for you were bought with a price and you should glorify God in your body and spirit which are God’s.
The blood of Jesus purchased our bodies and the stripes of Jesus Christ bought our bodies. Whether we are saved or not yet our bodies and spirits were purchased and they belong to God. This leaves us just stewards of God’s property. We are managers of God’s things.
This lack of ownership of our bodies should prevent from abusing our bodies. We cannot sell our bodies for any amount neither can we indulge them in harmful activities because they are not ours.
But people, because of the wrong belief that we are captains of our souls and masters of our destinies, are abusing through involving the body in homosexuality, commercial sex, abortion, wrong use of facial and body creams, lack of exercise, wrongly taking prescription or street drugs and eating disorders.
Most of the unsaved people wrongly stress the importance of the human body above the human spirit. As a result they go to any lengths to take care of their bodies only to defile them in perverted sex and abuse use of alcohol, tobacco and drugs. Involvement in perverted sex reduces intimacy and sexual fulfillment in marriage.
Abuse of the body through drinking and smoking shorten one’s life span. God’s will for us is long life but through abuse of the body we die young. Everything God commands or instructs us to do or not to do must be obeyed as it is for our highest good. But we condemn His wisdom, spurn His grace and follow our heart’s dictates, all to the detriment of our bodies and spirits.         
Stewardship of our human bodies involves acknowledging that our bodies are God’s property and reserving the use of our bodies for wholesome earthly activities and for the service and worship of God.
Wasting one’s body through abuse of any kind is an abomination to God. On the Judgment day each one of us will be required to give account for all the things that we did whilst in the body.
Your health is your wealth. So value your body and God will use it as an instrument of righteousness. Conversely, if you neglect it Satan will use it as an instrument of unrighteousness.
The choice is yours!

– For prayer and counselling call 0772889766 or e-mail: mai ros78@yahoo.co.uk