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A Gift from Our Family to Yours
August 9, 2026 - For the Church at the St. John Church of Christ
Spiritual Discipline: Chastity
God not only made the body sacred, but God himself has come in person, in bodily flesh. The body of Jesus was not some asexual spiritual shell. Jesus was a red-blooded Jewish male with appetites, drives, hormones, temptations and relationships with women. Being 100-percent human, he had the freedom to make choices about what to do with his body. The truth is that real freedom always puts us in a place of responsibility. Jesus never abrogated responsibility for his behavior. He always shouldered his freedom in a way that honored and cherished the bodies of others.
Chastity is the desire to revere God by receiving and honoring my body and the bodies of others with purity of thought and action. Healthy chastity is rooted in a deep acceptance of, respect for and protection of the glorious body God has given me and all other human beings. Chaste behavior cultivates sexual purity and nourishes trust. Jesus was free to let sinful women massage his feet. He had intimate friendships with men and women, and these relationships were sexually pure. Jesus is a remarkable example of a man who was comfortable in his own skin and totally free to love. He wasn’t emotionally shut down. He was free to go to parties and to hang out with prostitutes, and he was not judgmental or uptight around sexually promiscuous people.
God’s boundaries regarding chastity always bring responsibility, but the responsibility to honor another’s body actually brings freedom to love. Loving behavior always nurtures, encourages, protects, brings freedom, develops intimacy, and supports biblical truth. It never leaves another with cause for shame or embarrassment. Chastity is based on the awareness that God loves bodies. He came in a body – in Jesus. And now he continues to come to this world through our bodies. We are the temple of God on earth. The Holy Spirit inhabits our bodies, and Christ lives in us. Your whole being is made to be filled with God’s trinitarian life.
Daily Verse of the Day
Worship Times
We meet together regularly on Sunday mornings. We would love to have you join us!
We have bible classes for all ages at 10:00 a.m. Following classes, we meet together as a church family at 11:00 a.m. for worship services.
On the first Sunday of the month we enjoy a potluck meal together following worship service.
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