BOUGHT AT A PRICE

1 Corinthians 6: 12 – 20

When I was younger, I really abused my body. I was prone to play contact sports without equipment, lift and carry heavy objects incorrectly; I ate, drank, drugged, smoked myself into oblivion and I was sexually immoral and promiscuous. I used to laugh every time I heard someone who was fit and pretty say that their body was a temple of God and wondered if they walked around wearing crosses on their heads while attending their cult meetings.
I really just had no clue.

19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

When I first came to believe, I still smoked and was still immoral, I just wasn’t getting it. I knew the words, I had heard them and read them myself, but in the beginning of my walk I was still clueless. That whole bought with a price thing took a while to soak in.

4 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.
15 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!
17 But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
The context paints a compelling picture of Christ's great sacrifice. He liberated us from the cruel slave master of sin by buying us with the high price of His own life.
Getting a grip on God's great and loving investment in us should motivate us to gladly consider making His sacrifice rich in dividends. How is that return on His investment measured? By living to bring glory to Him! Our eyes, hands, feet, thoughts, dreams, and desires have been purchased to reflect the wondrous glory of God's will and wisdom. In other words, we are no longer our own.
It took a while for me to get it. It took a while for it to sink into my thick skull. Slowly I began to change. I had already stopped drinking years before, then I knew it was time to address that whole immorality thing followed by smoking, which took a lot longer, and now I am addressing my diet and nutrition.
All this may seem to be vanity, and that I am blowing my own horn. Far from it, I am trying to get across the message that Paul delivered.
you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.