Week 3 | Day 5 | Whole Body Worship

Command:

Do not commit adultery [do not lust]. Matthew 5:27-30 (NIV)

Read:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Romans 12:1(NIV)

Reflect:

We live in a culture that is extremely focused on the body. How it looks and how it feels. The world around us worships bodies as the symbol of worth and beauty; constantly trying to make this temporal matter eternal. But what Paul is telling us in this passage is that life isn’t about worshiping our bodies, it’s about using our bodies to worship. 

Offering our bodies as a living sacrifice isn’t about atoning for our sins. Jesus already handled that for us on the cross. Offering our bodies as living sacrifice reminds us that our body matters, but not in the way the world thinks. John Piper says, “You belong to God soul and body, or you don’t belong to him at all. Your body matters.” 

Every act of our bodies should be an act of worship. Not just when we sing worship songs on Sundays or on our way to work. Every act of our bodies should be proof that God is our treasure. The way we eat, the way we work, the way we serve our community, the way we take care of our bodies’ health, the way we cook meals for our family…all of these things are an act of worship that tell the world who we serve and what we’re about. 

“God wants visible, lived-out, bodily evidence that our lives are built on his mercy.” - John Piper

React:

Spend some time thinking about how you might be worshiping the body rather than using your body for worship. How can you practice taking care of your body as a gift from God while remaining focused on the true gift of God’s grace and mercy?

Pray:

Lord, thank you for the bodies you’ve given us. Help us to remember that the only thing that is Eternal is your word. Help us to use our temporal bodies to serve and glorify you.