Not my own

Yesterday’s thoughts about God owning my body continue this morning. The verses are 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Apparently the last words after “body” are not in the older manuscripts, but no matter. Obviously my spirit is His and I’ve not tried to live otherwise. However, I’ve mostly behaved as if this is my body, and I am responsible for it and can choose what happens to it. Not so.

Lately I’ve noticed a few physical weaknesses. For instance, my eyes become fatigued much faster than they used to and I cannot read as late at night as I once did. Also, when I have to climb hills (or the steps in a sports arena) my pulse rate speeds like a kid with his first car.

As a child, I had rheumatic fever which left me with a murmur. My heart had become enlarged and the mitral valve developed a leak. It makes a slight swishing sound. Over the years, this has repaired itself to the point that the last person who did an ultrasound had a hard time finding the leak. But it is still there.

I’ve also another heart problem. A couple years ago, I decided to try a new soft drink with vanilla. I’d never liked the taste of anything with caffeine in it, including coffee, but this soft drink tasted good. But my heart didn’t think so. After two trips to the ER with a racing pulse, and having a specialist tell me I had an A-fib (arterial fibrillation), I finally made the connection. Obviously this irregular rhythm was triggered by caffeine in a body otherwise caffeine-free. (Thankfully chocolate is not a problem!)

Thinking of these things after yesterday’s devotions, I remembered the time that I’d had worries over my lush vegetable garden during a summer plagued with severe hail storms. Finally, like the man who wrote The Pineapple Story, I gave my garden to the Lord. I said, “Lord, this is your garden. If hail is what You want for it, then do what seems best.” I stopped worrying. God owns the garden; I’m only the gardener. I’m to be a good steward, but the ultimate responsibility for its outcome lies with the owner.

At that memory, I said, “Lord, this is Your body (and your heart). I am not able to make it work the way I’d like it to work, and besides, You own it anyway. You bought it with the blood of Jesus Christ and it is yours.”

Then I also remembered a verse, Psalm 73:26. “My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Putting all this together isn’t as tidy a package as it seems. Because the Lord owns my body means I need to respond in two ways. The first is to actually yield it to Him and stop any anxiety about aging, illness, injury or anything else. Like hailstorms, He is sovereign over what happens to me too. This is not as easy to do as it is to say.

Second, I must quit trying to run my own life in respect to what happens to me. Certainly I’m to take care of myself by eating properly, getting enough of the best type of exercise (and sleep), and so on. However, I know me; governing diet and exercise can easily turn into a “me” thing, again taking control and trying to protect what I consider is mine to control. God wants me to listen to Him and do what He says. I’m to do this not only because it is always right to hear and obey God, but also because my body is His body.

Like the garden back then, and the possessions I now have, I’m only the manager, not the owner. My stuff cannot go into eternity with me, and neither can this body. When I die, God will resurrect me with a new body (1 Corinthians 15:35ff). In the meantime, I must entrust to Him this one He has lent me to use while I’m here. Come to think of it, that works the other way around; He is entrusting me with it—because it belongs to Him—and that makes this an even more serious responsibility than when I thought it was merely mine.