The Lutheran High School of Kansas City has selected 1 Corinthians 6, verses 19 and 20 as its Theme Verse for the 2023-2024 school year. The verse written by St. Paul reads: Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (ESV)
The Bible tells us that the most high God does not dwell in houses made by human hand, for heaven is His throne and the earth is His footstool, and yet the most wonderful news is that God makes His home in the heart of all who come to Christ for salvation: the forgiveness of sin and life everlasting.
All who are saved by grace through faith in Christ have a holy and noble calling, and as members of His Body we are living stones that are being built up into a spiritual house. We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, in order that we may offer up spiritual sacrifices to the Lord, which are holy and acceptable unto Him.
For 2000 years, individual believers have been added daily to this magnificent spiritual building that God Himself is constructing, for every believer in Christ is just one more living stone which is being fitted together, with perfect precision, and is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.
Christians are collectively being built-up by God into a holy temple, for Christ said I will build my Church. But in this verse, we discover that each believer is also being reminded that our individual body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, for at the point of salvation, He took up permanent residence within our heart. We were bought at enormous cost; the precious blood of Jesus Christ on Calvary's Cross was the payment for our sins - and from that point onwards, our body became a temple for God.
We were purchased at incredible cost, and so we are called to honor God with our bodies as well as our spirit and soul, and not to become slaves of the flesh with its ungodly pursuits. Paul particularly draws attention to sexual sins: "Flee from sexual immorality," is his forceful warning, "for every sin that a man does is outside the body but he that commits sexual immorality sins against his own body."
We were created spirit, soul, and body. It was the Father who created our body. It was the Son Who redeemed our body, and it is the Holy Spirit who dwells in our body. We should recognize the tremendous privilege we have - that we are a temple for the living God. Let us flee from all sorts of sins that desecrate our bodies and live our lives for the Lord for we are a chosen, royal, and holy people for God's own possession, that we may proclaim the excellence of him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for creating me spirit, soul, and body. Thank You that I have been saved (spirit, soul, and body), by grace through faith in Christ. How I praise and thank You that I have the Holy Spirit dwelling within my body. I pray that I may be a worthy witness to Your goodness and grace, and that my body is a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto You. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Source: https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/1-corinthians-6-19