1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (NRSV)
Read 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 on biblegateway.com
Verse 12"All things are lawful for me," but not all things are beneficial. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be dominated by anything. Verse 13"Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food," and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. Verse 14And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. Verse 15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Verse 16Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, "The two shall be one flesh." Verse 17But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Verse 18Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. Verse 19Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? Verse 20For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.
Devotion
I wish you were writing the devotional reflections for today’s reading. In my eighty plus journeys around the sun I have concluded there is much that I don’t know and much that I don’t understand about sex and sexuality and the effects it has on the dynamics of human relationships. Yet I am confident that God has created each of us in God’s image and desires that we live in relationships that are a testimony of God’s love for each person in that relationship—that are life-giving, intimate, wholesome, affirming, and healthy—relationships that provide nurture, security, safety and refuge—relationships of love and affirmation as well as acceptance and forgiveness as God has shown us in Jesus Christ.
Having read and heard Paul’s words to his friends and congregants in Corinth, how might they guide you to reflect and live into your sexuality and your relationships both sexual and otherwise in today’s complex world?
Prayer
Kind and loving God, give us grace to live in a life-giving, healthy relationship with you. Give us grace to live in life-giving, healthy relationships with others. Give us grace to live our gift of sexuality in ways that are life-giving, healthy and responsible. In the Name of our Creator and Redeemer we pray. Amen