A High Price

“Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:18-20)

Have you ever purchased a really expensive toy, either for yourself or your children? This would be something that you wouldn’t normally get because it cost so much, but it is purely just for fun, like an expensive golf club or piece of jewelry. Maybe you bought your child a special toy, like an R/C car or video game system. How do you treat that thing you spent so much money on? If you spent a lot of money on a piece of jewelry, you’re probably very careful about how you handle it, and if you spent a lot on a golf club you’re going to think twice before beating it up on your next bad shot. When you’ve spent a lot of money on a toy for your kids, don’t you cringe when you see them treat it poorly? You might say, “Don’t do that, that cost a lot of money!” Perhaps that’s what God is saying to us through Paul’s words here in 1 Corinthians. God is looking at what we do with our bodies and calling out, “Don’t do that! You were bought at a high price!”

“Christ bought us with His blood and made us free from the Law. In that way, the Law could not punish us. Christ did this by carrying the load and by being punished instead of us. It is written, ‘Anyone who hangs on a cross is hated and punished.’ Because of the price Christ Jesus paid, the good things that came to Abraham might come to the people who are not Jews. And by putting our trust in Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit He has promised.” (Galatians 3:13-14)

“For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.” (1 Peter 1:18-19)

There is a vast difference between how we treat an expensive item we purchased for our kids and a cheap toy from the Dollar Store. So the question for us is: are we living as if we were bought at a high price? Do you run from sexual sin or indulge in it? Do you abuse your body with food or drugs or a pursuit of pleasure or do you treat your body as the temple of the Holy Spirit? As God’s children and as Christ-followers, our lives should reflect our recognition and understanding of the payment that was made for our lives, the payment of the precious blood of our King.

“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13)

Do not live your life or treat your body as if you were some Dollar Store trinket. You were bought at a high price, and if you have accepted this payment by our Savior Jesus Christ, then just as you would treat an expensive purchase you made, be diligent with your obedience to God’s word. Make sure that your life reflects the reality that you were bought at a high price.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

—Redeemed