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; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV
Greeting can become radically different for those of us in Christ when we realize that our bodies are where the Holy Spirit may dwell and that we were bought with a price. We are reminded in 1 Corinthians that our bodies do not belong to us. We do not have ownership over them because we belong to God.
Think about that for a moment. You are not your own!
If I do not have the rights to my own body, then that must mean that I cannot do with it whatever I please and still think of myself as abiding in Christ. Therefore, if I cannot do whatever I please with it and God says that it belongs to Him, then that must mean my body may only move and go in a way that is pleasing to Him. My body, His pleasure. My body, His temple. My body, His commands.
So, when the Lord says, “Jump,” then, I must (hopefully in a loving manner and with the desire to please my God) say to Him, “How high, my Lord?”
If I was bought with a price, then that must mean that God sees me as having value. My body is more than just flesh; my body is a temple of the Living God.
This should blow our minds so much that we see our greeting others as an amazing way of sharing God with others when we speak to them or embrace to them. If our bodies are the Spirit’s temple, then we should greet with an appreciation of His dwelling there.
Therefore, greeting cannot be just some pastime. It must be done with joy and in high esteem of the One who gave us the body to greet!
[PRAY TO GREET WITH A BODY THAT DESIRES TO HONOR GOD AND GREET IN SUCH A MANNER THAT GIVES GOD ALL THE GLORY.]
