Thank you for the application question, “How does 1 Corinthians 6:12-13 speak to you?”
I Corinthians 6 says this, “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.” (NIV).
I Corinthians 6:12–13 grants me and every Christian great freedom in the Lord. As a follower of Jesus Christ, I am free from the bondage of the Law, but I do not live a reckless or sinful life. This freedom is not that I can do anything since my sins are forgiven. immorality, drunkenness, or thievery. It doesn’t mean that I can’t have a sip of wine occasionally provided that I am not intoxicated.
As our country becomes more permissive as recreational drugs, seeing or hearing more profanity, sexual content or violence, I have to be careful that I do not become callous or condoning of such actions by myself or others. The freedoms granted to me by our society is not necessarily beneficial as there is a dehumanization of life instead of cherishing life. The freedom is not necessarily evil things, but it can even be “good” things as usage of the technology. Playing games on the cell phone is a neutral thing, but I must ask myself from time to time is it beneficial to me. It is good at times for a distraction or stress reliever, but it is unhealthy if it causes me to ignore or neglect my spiritual life or spending time in preparation for the ministries at Church.
The second guiding principle that I find is that I am not to allow anything or anyone other than my Savior and Lord to rule over me. Nothing is to have mastery over me. I am not to be in bondage to some habit or activity.
Quite often something begins innocently or for fun, but then it becomes an addiction or obsession. It becomes something that I must do or long to do. We just wait to get back to it. If that obsession hinders my spiritual life, then I must consider surrendering it it to Jesus. Jesus is to be the Lord of my life, nothing else in this world.
The Apostle Paul gives me the reason that I am to live under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He says to me that that my physical body is the place where the Spirit of God lives. God made me for himself, not for myself. He has given his Holy Spirit to me. Thus, I am to keep myself pure and holy before God.
It is a great honor and privilege for me to think that God’s Spirit dwells in me. It is comforting to me since I know that God is with me. He is not far from me, but always by my side and even in me. The perception that God is remote and removed from us is false. My prayers come before my Heavenly Father for I have free access to him through Jesus Christ. I am confident that God hears me since I seek to pray in line with the Spirit of God.
I am reminded that I am to keep the unity of the Spirit for every believer also have the Spirit of God. I am to speak with respect to brothers and sisters, not using despairingly words against him or her. We are all part of the family of God and one day as a gather people through the ages, we will become the spiritual house of our God.
-Kingston