Truth 03 · Session 3 of 3 · About 2 min
Holy in the everyday
Your body, your words, your eyes, your appearance
Your body, your words, your eyes, your appearance: what holy looks like on a Tuesday.
Read these first
I Corinthians 6:19-20 · NRSVue
19Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.
Ephesians 4:29-32 · NRSVue
29Let no evil talk come out of your mouths but only what is good for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. 31Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice. 32Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.
I Peter 3:3-4 · NRSVue
3Do not adorn yourselves outwardly by braiding your hair and by wearing gold ornaments or fine clothing; 4rather, let your adornment be the inner self with the lasting beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God's sight.
A few words on what they mean
The practical part
Now the practical part, because the Bible gets practical. Apostolic churches take these things seriously, and I am not going to soften that. But read the verses first and let them do the talking.
Your body
Your body. It is "a temple of the Holy Spirit within you", and "you are not your own". You were bought with a price. That is why we do not smoke or take what damages it, and why we do not hand it to sexual sin. It is also why Apostolic churches hold to abstinence from alcohol. The Bible says "do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18), and Proverbs warns that the drink which looks harmless in the cup "bites like a serpent" in the end (Proverbs 23:31-32). We would rather not find out where the line is. There is a better filling on offer. "Do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies" (Romans 6:12). It is not about being respectable. It is about whose house it is.
Your words
Your words. "Let no evil talk come out of your mouths." Put away "all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander". Your speech is one of the first things people notice change, and one of the first things that gives you away when it has not.
Your eyes
Your eyes. Jesus said that to look with lust is already adultery in the heart (Matthew 5:28). In an age of screens that is one of the most practical verses in the Bible.
Your appearance
Your appearance. Paul asks for "moderate clothing with reverence and self-control" (1 Timothy 2:9). Peter says let your adornment be not the outward but "the inner self with the lasting beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit". The Bible also speaks about dress, ornaments and hair, including Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 11. Read those passages with an open Bible and talk to your pastor about how your church walks them out. Ask your questions. Nobody will be surprised by them.
What holy looks like on a Tuesday
None of this makes you holy. Chapter three, session one made that clear. This is what holy looks like on a Tuesday.
Reflection
Pick one of the four (body, words, eyes, appearance) where you know God is speaking to you. What is the one change you will make this week?
Verse to memorise
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.
I Corinthians 6:19-20 · NRSVue
Say it until you can say it without looking.