1 Corinthians 6:19-20, ‘Or 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? 20For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body’
Have we totally come into the realization that – ‘my body is not my own’? and ‘I have been bought with a price’, ‘glorifying God in my body’?
1 Peter 1:18,19, ‘knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ’.
The high price is – The blood of Jesus!
We often tend to humiliate ourselves, when we fail or the way we value our life, we consider ourselves worthless. Mentally, we may think we are not worth much! But we must remember that when Jesus died on the cross, He paid a price for my soul! And, he put a price for my soul! It is not a small value, He laid down His own life! Our worth is way more than we can imagine!
Do the things that we possess, make us feel we are worth more, than those who have less?
Luke 12:15, ‘Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.’”
Our life is not worth of what we possess. There would be a ‘greed’, if we think we are what we possess!
Jesus talks about the rich man in the parable, v16-20, ‘And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. 17And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ 18Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.” ’ 20But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’’ 21So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God’
Luke 19:11-27, ‘While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. 12So He said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return. 13And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas and said to them, ‘Do business with this until I come back.’ 14But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ 15When he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know what business they had done. 16The first appeared, saying, ‘Master, your mina has made ten minas more.’ 17And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities.’ 18The second came, saying, ‘Your mina, master, has made five minas.’ 19And he said to him also, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ 20Another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a handkerchief; 21for I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.’ 22He *said to him, ‘By your own words I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? 23Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?’ 24Then he said to the bystanders, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ 25And they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas already.’ 26‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. 27But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.’”’
When Jesus was born, Herod was the King. Romans ruled the Jews. Though Herod was the King, Caesar would decide who will rule the region. After Herod died, his son Archelaus was the new King but he is under the authority of Caesar, ruling a smaller territory, and had the people killed those who didn’t want him as their king. So, the people who were listening to the parable could relate to what Jesus is telling them. So, when Jesus said that the Master, the noble man, is going away, to receive the kingdom – Jesus implied that he is going away for some time. We see two types of people here – his servants and the citizens who hated Him! Among his servants, we see those who used what they received from the noble man and they do business with it, there is also one person who was afraid of him and did nothing with what he received! Though this servant was the slave of His master, he behaved like the other citizens who hated their master, by doing nothing with his mina! He was supposed to do business with the share he got and was supposed to be faithful with it. He did not have any rules – what to do with it, where to invest; but he was given a responsibility – to use the mina, though he was a slave, he was like a king in handling that mina, which was given to him! We can see ourselves in this slave – being His disciples, in the way we handle our possessions, our relationships, our time, our weekends, our siblings, our children, our Parents – are we accountable for the way we handle all these things? Do we assert ourselves over them, or do we do business – like do we bear fruit, until He comes?
1 Timothy 6:6, ‘But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.’, v9, ‘But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction’
Let us be aware that God gave us everything and let us use these for God’s glory. Our home is a mini- Church. How do we treat each other? How is our heart? How are our priorities? How is our attitude towards them? Let us judge ourselves.
1 Corinthians 10:31, ‘Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God’.
Do all to the glory of God. When we look at our spouse and our children, we have a responsibility towards them. Similarly, in the Church, towards our brothers and sisters – As long as we see them as our responsibility, then we will seek to please the Lord.
Colossians 3:17, ‘Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father’.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20, ‘Or 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? 20For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body’
