Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria Grace for Living Devotional Thursday September 28, 2023 TOPIC: LIMITATION OF FREEDOM

BIBLE READING:

1 CORINTHIANS 6:11-20

11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.  13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.  14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.  15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!  16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”  17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.  19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;  20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.  

KEY VERSE:

"Ye have been called into liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” Galatians 5:13  

MEDITATION:

The bible is replete with messages of Christian integrity, self-control, and virtuous living. While Christians from various cultural and ethnic worldviews may argue for their cultural rights to sex and food, the entire global church is called to avoid immorality in all its forms and character. Christian living in all its forms has to manifest God in ways that can be emulated by others who are seekers or the ones growing in their life of discipleship.   

The human desire for any sort of immorality is a never-ending one, but as Christians, we should reach a point where we can say, “enough is enough”. With gluttony, I might eat all night long until I can't eat another bite; with greed, I will never get enough money; with selfishness, the time to put others first will never come and; with a desire for approval, no amount of approval will ever fix my insecurity Setting the limits and boundaries on our rights and liberty is our way of glorifying God. Writing to the Galatian Christians, Paul said, “For brethren, ye have been called into liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13). This is a call to the entire Christian body whose new identity was purchased by the blood of Jesus for God’s glory.   

How may you exercise your rights and liberty and yet not indulging the flesh or causing others to stumble?  

PRAYER:

Dear Lord, may my life not become a source of offence to you and the body of Christ.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:

ECCLESIASTICS 1-4 & GALATIANS 1