March 8  3^rd Sunday in Lent            1 Corinthians 6.12-20

¹² I can hear some of you saying, “For me, all things are permitted.” But face the facts: all things are not beneficial. So you say, “For me, all things are permitted.” Here’s my response: I will not allow anything to control me. ¹³ Another chimes in: “Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food.” I suppose so, but a day will come when God will dispense with both food and the stomach. The body is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord; the Lord is over all, and He cares about your body. ¹⁴ God has raised the Lord Jesus from death, but He won’t stop there. His dynamic power will raise us up from the grips of death as well. ¹⁵ Don’t you realize that your bodies are members of the Anointed One? So should I take the members of the Anointed One and unite them to a prostitute? This illicit union should never take place! ¹⁶ Don’t you understand that when your body is joined with a prostitute, the two of you have become one body? For as it says, “The two come together as one flesh.”^{[a] 17} But when you are joined with the Lord, you become one spirit with Him. ¹⁸ Run from immoral behavior. All other sins are disconnected from the body, but sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. ¹⁹ Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who comes from God and dwells inside of you? You do not own yourself. ²⁰ You have been purchased at a great price, so use your body to bring glory to God!