Sep 27, 2024 Consecrated Bodies – Words of Grace Blog – September 27, 2024
We have a life-long concern for our bodies. Have we come to see them as consecrated to God and the place where we serve Christ and his church?
Toddlers learn to touch their eyes, ears, nose, and toes as they sing songs with their parents. Children learn about keeping their bodies safe and eating healthy food. From puberty on, it’s all about appearances. When illness comes upon us, we are required to give attention to our bodies in more ways than we desire. In old age, the changes and limits of the body are a major concern and regular topic of conversation.
All of this is understandable, because we are humans whose life on earth depends on alive bodies.
The Bible has much to say about the body. The body is first said to be created in the image of God, some male and some female, from the dust of the ground, with the breath of life within, making it a living creature (Genesis 1:27, 2:7). The bodies of believers in Christ will be raised from the dead in a transformed state to enjoy the eternal state in the new heaven and new earth (1 Corinthians 15, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
This week, while meditating on Colossians 1:21-29, I was struck by the references to the body in relation to God’s work of salvation for us and Paul’s ministry for the sake of the church.
God reconciled us to himself in Christ’s body of flesh. Paul said he suffered for the sake of the church (which is the body of Christ) in his flesh (which is his body). This reminds us of something Paul wrote in Romans 12:1, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
Much could be said about what’s being communicated in these passages. The one point I was impressed with this week is that the body is the place where we serve God and Christ’s church.
In a world where human bodies are desecrated by abuse, neglect, and sexual sin, Christians live in bodies consecrated to God for purity, service, and suffering for his sake.
It’s obvious that with our bodies we work, do acts of service for others, and obey God’s moral will in our sexuality. But even our prayer life and thought life happen in the physical processes of the body. Jesus agonized in prayer to the point of sweating blood.
When we consecrate our bodies to God as living sacrifices to him, we are following the example of Jesus. Clearly, we do not atone for sin in our bodies like Jesus did in his on the cross. But whatever service we render to the Lord is done in bodies. In Jesus’ body, he redeemed our bodies that in them we may glorify God.
Do you think of your body as consecrated to God and a living sacrifice to him? Do you see it as the instrument of righteousness you use to worship and serve? And, like Paul, do you rejoice in any affliction you may experience because of obedience to Christ?
Here is a truth that directs our lives and corrects the false notions concerning the body. The beauty of the body is its ability to glorify God when fully consecrated to him in sacrifice and service to his church. That’s true of Jesus who reconciled us in the body of his flesh. It is true of you and me as we serve Jesus in our bodies.
More from Colossians on Sunday.
-Scott