“I beat my body” – Self Discipline
“Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph 5:17-18).
Discipline. Discipline. Discipline. It is highly needed in our handling appetites for food, sex, power, relationships, achievement, and even suffering. St. Paul urges his listeners to live with purpose; he uses debauchery as the summary of the dangers of getting drunk with ‘wine’. Debauchery is defined as excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures, involving excessive drinking and promiscuity; it is negative and undesirable in every sense. It is the opposite of being safe, protected and preserved. Drinking therefore seems to disarm a man’s conscience of every rationality and moral objectivity and renders him a defenseless target of attacks from the dark world. That can ruin life.
There are many people who struggle with drinking and such drug addictions, or just indiscipline that has similar consequences – excessive or uncontrolled entertainment in form of YouTube videos, movies, books, pornography; these include men with families, young adults, even youth – after ruining a great prime section of their lives in addictive actions that later enslave them, they live to regret! Many relationships break, adultery goes on uncontrolled, huge sums of money are lost, people become unproductive, others even contract diseases!
Paul recommends that we should rather be filled with the Holy Spirit. The ‘temple of the Holy Spirit’ should not be subjected to such kinds of destructive indulgences. Living with purpose means beating one’s body in self-discipline and defeating these vices to honour God in our lives.
Paul wrote: “Flee from sexual immorality… do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own” (1Cor 6:18-19). In Corinth, some church members would go out – sleeping with a neighbour’s spouse, going to prostitutes – and they would come back to church and fellowship claiming ‘what I do in the flesh does not affect my spirit’! Are Christians doing the same today? Some know that it is outright sin, but when overcome by the flesh and fall into sexual sin, they try to find any way of escaping the guilt. It is good to know that some enter deep remorse and would repent with tears, but unfortunately others feel so unworthy that they run away from fellowship!
Living with purpose in this context means you should know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and so you should glorify God in your body. The one who will succeed in avoiding sexual sin in this perverse generation must avoid tempting company, shun drinking and drugs and deliberately determine to be clear about one’s principles to peers. In matters of the flesh, you can hardly trust anyone; take your principled stand and not only avoid the destructive consequences, but more so glorify God in your body.
God bless you as you all.