I Make My Body My Slave - 1-30-09

“…I beat my body and make it my slave…” I Corinthians 9:27.

I believe the apostle Paul understood the way of Jesus about as well as humanly possible. Here was a man who lived his life committed to all of the wrong things (and passionately so) until the day that he was confronted on the road to the city of Damascus by the living Savior.

“Saul, Saul, (his name before this encounter) why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4)

These are not words that you want to hear coming from Jesus.

Paul had accomplished much up to this point in his life. He had dedicated his life to that which he had thought was right, that which he had been instructed in since childhood. He says of himself in Philippians 3:4-6, “…If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.”

The one thing Paul realized that had been missing from his life was the most important thing; he had somehow missed the person of Jesus Christ. This changed everything. He became a student of the way of the Master. Jesus became so important to him that he goes on to say in Philippians 3:7-11, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ — the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death…”

This new way of life so consumed Paul that his entire way of living, of being, was redefined by it. No longer would he live and move and act on his own accord, seeking his own agenda, plotting his own course; no, now he was a citizen of the Kingdom of the Heavens, a child of God, a servant of King Jesus. Nothing would interfere with this new mission, this new life, least of all himself.

And so he says, “…I beat my body and make it my slave…”

Was this some kind of sadomasochistic effort to prove his own inadequacies? Or was it completely the opposite; an effort to prove to God his newly formed dedication?

I don’t believe it was either. I honestly believe that Paul could have done no less in light of the ever increasing value of Jesus Christ in his life.

This concept of making my body my slave became very real to me about 4 weeks ago as I determined that it was time to lose some weight. I had been living my life in regards to my eating and exercise habits just as I had since I was eighteen years old. Slavery had crept up on me. When my stomach growled, I fed it. When I was tired, I rested. When I wanted something sweet, I ate it. If I didn’t feel like being active, I watched TV or played a video game. I had become a slave to my body. But this was only one small area. Slavery had actually taken over much of my thinking, my natural responses; it had come to determine my reactions to life’s situations.

So I read this statement by Paul and I thought to myself, what if I was to make my body my slave? What if I was to make my mind my slave? What if I were to make my thoughts and feelings and emotions and reactions and responses and every area of me, my slave? What if no part of me got in the way of total dedication to the way of Jesus? What if He so increased in value in my life that I could do no less? What kind of person would I be then?

What if we all became this kind of person?

I want that. I want to be that kind of person. This is a mission worth living and dieing for.

Join me?