Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
–1 Corinthians 6:19
I know you want more in your relationship with God. You want more of God’s power in your life. And the way to experience more of God’s power is to avoid four Spirit-quenchers. First of all, immorality will extinguish the presence of God’s Spirit in your life. Look at 1 Corinthians 6:18: “Flee immorality.” That word translated as “immorality” is an umbrella term for any sexual activity outside of marriage. Fornication (that is, premarital sex), adultery, homosexuality, pornography–those are all forms of immorality. God is not against sex. After all, it was His idea. But He said it works best within the marriage relationship.
Notice the distinction between immorality and every other sin. Paul continued, “Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God?” (vv. 18-19). There are spiritual consequences to immorality that are unlike those of any other sin. Because when you commit immorality, you are not sinning outside the body; you are sinning with your body. And your body, as Paul pointed out, is a temple of the Holy Spirit.
That means when you engage in immorality, you are asking the Holy Spirit to participate in that act with you. So the next time you are tempted by pornography or by sex outside of marriage, imagine saying, “Holy Spirit, I want You to join me in this immoral activity.” Immorality quenches the Spirit’s presence in your life. No, He does not leave you in a theological sense. But in a practical sense, you will lose the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life when you engage in immorality.
What is the remedy to immorality? It is the realization that you are not free to do whatever you want to do with your body. Paul said, “Do you not know . . . that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (vv. 19-20).
In Paul’s day, that word “bought” referred to the process of buying a slave out of the slave market. The Bible says when we were born into this world, we were born not free; we were born enslaved to Satan. We had no future and no hope. But Jesus Christ shed His own blood to pay the price to redeem us from the bondage of Satan so we could have everlasting life. God has bought us with His blood–not so we can be free to do whatever we want to do, but so we can be free to serve Him with all our hearts. That is the reason we flee immorality.
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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Flame Throwers Vs. Fire Extinguishers” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2011.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.