Bought at a Price

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, "Do you no 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; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."

Observation: Paul in these chapters that we read this morning is pretty blunt and not afraid to put it like it is. He doesn't dance around the truth. In chapter 4 he calls them kings who have it made and asks should he come to them with a whip or in love. In chapter 5 he tells them to give the incestual sinner among them to Satan. Then here in chapter 6 he warns them that no one is worthy of entering the kingdom of God. He again warns them to flee from all kinds of immorality. Yet, he reminds them that they are not their own.

Application: The same is true for me today. I am not my own, I have been purchased by the precious blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. He not only paid for my sins, but opened the door for me to enter in to a personal relationship with my creator and Father. My desire then should not be for things of this world such as sin, pleasure, fame and fortune. Instead, my aim should be for Christ and to be more like him. He did not pay the price on the cross so that I can be forgive when I sin, NO, he paid the price so that I can be who I was created to be. THANK YOU LORD JESUS!!!

Prayer: O Father of Jesus, Help me to approach thee wih with deepest reverence, not with presumption, not with servile fear, but with holy boldness. Thou art beyond the grasp of my understanding, but not beyond that of my love, Thou knowest that I love thee supremely, for thou art supremely adorable, good, perfect. My heart melts at the love of Jesus, my brother, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, married to me, dead for me, risen for me; He is mine and I am his, given to me as well as for me; I am never so much mine as when I am his, or so much lost to myself until lost in him; then I find my true manhood. Make me fruitful by living to that love, my character becoming more beautiful every day. If traces of Christ's love-artistry be upon me, make me work on with his divine brush until the complete image be obtained and I be made a perfect copy of him, my master. O Lord Jesus come to me, O Divine Spirit, rest upon me, O Holy Father, look on me in mercy for the same of the well-beloved, Amen.

(The Love of Jesus taken from The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions, 1975)