Resources
 Devotions
Adult League Devotions: Week 9
The Human
Body
"Do you not
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" - 1
Corinthians 6:19
It would be impossible to play sports if you did not have a body! The
human body is important. It is part of God's creation. The human body
has been further dignified by the incarnation, when God became man and
took flesh and blood. The theory of dualism - that the spirit is good
and the body bad - finds no support in the Bible.
Understanding this should have a profound influence on how we view our
bodies and on how we use them. A fit, trained body can and should bring
glory to God. Equally we cannot deny that there have been many abuses
of the body in the name of sports. Drugs, doping, playing through
serious injury have left many retired athletes physically wrecked.
Others have seen their career ended by a reckless play by an opponent.
Paul drew a parallel between the athlete and the Christian in 1
Corinthians. "I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have
preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize" 1
Corinthians 9:24. The 100 metres gold medal at the Olympics is decided
in less than 10 seconds. But how many hours of "beating their bodies"
will the medalists’ have spent in the previous 4 years, how much iron
pumped, how many reps completed in the gym?
As athletes, regardless of our level of play, we must thank God for our
body. We are obliged to work hard to get it in shape. We must also
remember that it is the temple of the Holy Spirit and keep that in
focus and our sport in perspective.
Discussion
Questions
1. What are
your thoughts on what you’ve just Read/Heard?
2. What are
some of the most important things we can do/or not do to honor God with
our bodies?
3. What’s the
“Take-A-Way” for tonight?
 This
devotion
is available for download. Click
here to download in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format.
Credit:
This devotion was written by Rich Green, Sports Minister at Mount
Pleasant Christian Church (Greenwood, Indiana) and adapted from
devotional writings from Stuart Weir.
|
