You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. And God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead. Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.” But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him. Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Dear God, I suppose there comes a point when all of us have to decide that it’s okay to deny ourselves. Maybe it’s for reasons that Paul discusses here as we figure out what is good for us and what harms us. And maybe it’s sacrificing a right that we have so that someone else can be safe.

I think that a lot of the sin that Paul addresses in these verses—mostly sexual immorality—comes down to dying to our own desires and seeking what is right. Sure, that might seem obvious, but it’s also true.

With COVID-19 and the whole “wearing a mask” issue, what I’m seeing is so much anger and indignation. I had to be confrontational with a patient yesterday who refused to wear a mask in our clinic. He claimed I was violating his “rights” and he was going to sue us. He came into our clinic spoiling for a fight. Why? Oh, something on the news or social media probably had him riled up. That stuff can rile me up too. The things I watch can get me going. I’ve learned that there are certain things I have watched that will stir thoughts of sexual immorality in me so I have to avoid those things.

Father, I feel like I’m just rambling now, so I will end my saying that I didn’t sleep well last night because I am scared. I am scared of what today will hold for me at work. We might have some significant challenges today that will be complicated to resolve. So I ask for your mercy. Guide me. Guide all of us. Show us your path forward. We want to be there for our patients as much as possible. We also want to be safe for them, for each other, and for our community. Help me, Father. Show me your path forward and pour your peace over me.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen