Devotionals

Home    Devotionals    Why You Have a Body

Why You Have a Body

A devotional by John Piper for reading on August 3rd

For you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. ( 1 Corinthians 6:20 20 for ye were bought with a price: glorify God therefore in your body. )

God did not create the physical-material universe willy-nilly. He had a purpose, namely, to add to the ways his glory is externalized and made manifest. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” ( Psalms 19:1 Chapter 19 1 The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament showeth his handiwork. ).

Our bodies fit into that same category of physical things that God created for this reason. He is not going to back out on his plan to glorify himself through human beings and human bodies.

Why does God go to all the trouble to dirty his hands, as it were, with our decaying, sin-stained flesh, in order to reestablish it as a resurrection body and clothe it with immortality? Answer: Because his Son paid the price of death so that the Father’s purpose for the material universe would be fulfilled, namely, that he would be glorified in it, including in our bodies, forever and ever.

That’s what the text says: “You were bought with a price [the death of his Son]. So glorify God in your body.” God will not disregard or dishonor the work of his Son. God will honor the work of his Son by raising our bodies from the dead, and we will use our bodies to glorify him forever and ever.

That is why you have a body now. And that is why it will be raised to be like Christ’s glorious body.



The content above belongs exclusively to Desiring God - Solid Joys by John Piper and is provided on HopeLife.org for purely non-profit purposes to help extend the reach of their ministry.