PLEASE READ JOHN 15:5, 1 CORINTHIANS 6:12, 19-20 & GALATIANS 5:22-23
Machines are made to be busy; we are made to be fruitful. Machines can work off of numbers & formulas because their parts & pieces are all the same. In vast contradiction to parts & pieces, humans are each created individually. Our bodies, though similar, all function quite uniquely.
This is why simply counting calories & holding ourselves to a restricted diet that focuses on numbers for our food or numbers on a scale doesn’t work. Nor do the rules of a diet ever work. We don’t all need to eat the same amount of food or weigh the same.
If you lived in Corinth in Bible times, you would have had a clear understanding that a temple was a holy, sacred place. Domed ceilings, intricate columns, exquisite woodwork overlaid with gold & silver would’ve been your immediate, vivid mind picture when you heard the word temple & you would’ve been a bit shocked to think of comparing your body to such.
I think as believers we passively overlook this, dare I say, overused passage. If you grew up in the church, you probably heard this passage all your life, quoted by people who wanted to make a point of how you should dress, how you should eat or drink & whether or not you should subject your body to any long-standing changes of holes or ink.
But Paul wasn’t telling the Corinthians what they should wear or do to their bodies, he was trying to help them understand that our physical desires are not a pass toward self-focus.
He wanted them to understand that giving in to indulgence, in the case of overeating, or self-deprivation as with restrictive dieting, would bind them to that behavior. Thus it becomes sin, which would only enslave them to the things of this world once again.
But Jesus had already set them free from the things of the world. He has also set us free. The sin & shame that was ingrained in our DNA back in the garden surrounding food was taken away by the covering of grace given to us through Jesus’ resurrection. And jointly with that covering of grace, we were given the Holy Spirit as a helper to give us self-control to restrain our human nature of indulgent choices.
Enjoying a piece of cake isn’t wrong. Eating healthy isn’t wrong. Our desires aren’t even wrong. But like the Corinthians, what is wrong is our action towards always satisfying our flesh. There is a time for enjoying some satisfaction for our desires & a time to constrain those desires.
We must use the Helper God gave us to exhibit the fruit of His Spirit in our lives. By choosing His ways, the fruit grows & our lives become more full of goodness. By abiding in Him, we are making a choice to attach ourselves to His presence in our lives.
Friend, we must start living our lives like we are a temple of the Holy Spirit. We are infinitely more valuable to Him than the most ornate earthly structure could ever be. Our bodies, no matter our physical make up, are sacred places in which He is pleased to reside.
God is more interested in what we do with our bodies & how we handle the treasure of health that He has entrusted to us, than whether we look a certain way or fit into a certain size of clothing.
What would happen if we walked around believing what Paul said about our bodies being a temple that carries the very Spirit of the Lord?
Today, ask your Father to help you learn to abide in Him in regards to your health & to view your “temple” the way He does. Ask Him for self-control to make choices regarding all areas of your health in a way that honors Him.
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