R on E . M . C lo u z et never runs out of grace. He does not need persuasion on our part for Him to grant us everything He already promised; we need to keep praying in order to realize ourselves how important this actually is for our lives. Our hearts need persuasion by insistence.
Honor the body temple The sixth condition found in the New Testament for the endowment
the apostles (Acts 17:18), believed that the greatest good was the prudent pursuit of pleasure and the absence of pain. Although this appears harmless, and it preached against excesses, the focus was on what made a person feel good. The philosophy’s extreme was some form of hedonism, which taught, unabashedly, that the pursuit of the highest pleasure for the body was the highest good. Hedonists gave
separate from the spiritual. But research has clearly established that whatever happens to our bodies deeply affects our minds and spirits.6 The Bible clearly teaches that our bodies are the temple, the residence, of the Holy Spirit. Hence we need to glorify God with our bodies if we want the Spirit to abide there (1 Cor. 10:31). This is also part of the Adventist message to the
God never runs out of grace. He does not need persuasion on our part for Him to grant us everything He already promised; we need to keep praying in order to realize ourselves how important this actually is for our lives. Our hearts need persuasion by insistence.
of the Holy Spirit is to honor our bodies as God’s temple. “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:19, 20). Throughout history, various philosophies and ideas led religious, or otherwise respected people, to consider the human body as solely for pleasure. The Epicureans, for instance, during the time of
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themselves to sexual pleasure for that reason. Today, in the name of individual human rights, people, especially in Western societies, feel very protective of their right to do whatever they wish with their bodies. Thus, no one is to criticize cohabitation, extra marital sex, or even the most hideous and wicked types of freedom of expression readily accessible on the Internet. Pleasure rules. This attitude is also fueled by a belief in dualism: the idea that the physical realm is distinct and
world: “ ‘Fear God, and give Him glory’ ” (Rev. 14:7). The Holy Spirit even affects our bodies physically. “The Holy Spirit . . . will renew every organ of the body that God’s servants may work acceptably and successfully. Vitality increases under the influence of the Spirit’s action.”7 If we want the Holy Spirit, if we wish to make room for God in our lives, we simply cannot treat our bodies any way we wish. “For if you are living according to the flesh,” Paul reminds us, “you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting
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