“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭6:19-20‬ ‭NIV‬‬
http://bible.com/111/1co.6.19-20.niv

When we accept Christ as our savior and invite Him into our heart, the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit comes to dwell inside us. So with this awesome gift comes an awesome responsibility.

I remember years ago working in law enforcement I dealt with a case where 3 juveniles had gone into a church and painted graffiti on the walls. They spray painted vulgar words and drawings. I was mortified that someone would literally trash God’s house in such a way as this.

Yet as I read these verses, I must confess that I have trashed God’s house many, many times. Several months ago God brought this scripture to mind as I was trying to lose some weight. I have always loved food. Now there is nothing wrong with loving food. For those of us who grew up in south Louisiana, there is lots of good food to love. But when we overindulge in this delicious food it’s a sin. Yes I’ll say it again. To overindulge in food is a sin. I’ve often heard people say all things in moderation. Chocolate is awesome but if you eat it every meal your body is going to give you some problems. Now food addiction is a very real problem that confronts many people in today’s society. Drug addiction is another major issue. There are some drugs that are instantly addictive and almost impossible to get off of. So the everything in moderation saying doesn’t really work when you are talking about crack, crystal meth, heroine. I’m sure you get the picture.

I have always been fascinated by two things, cars and the human body. What fascinates me is that so many working parts work together to make them both run efficiently.  I’ve always found the two to be very similar in a number of ways. If even one tiny little part goes bad on either one you could have some major problems. Both require the right kind of fuel to stay in good working order. If you let a car sit up and go undriven for an extended period of time, it may not function when you do decide to use it. If you don’t exercise your body it will become sluggish and not work as well as you would like.  If you fill a cars gas tank with sugar it won’t run. If you fill your body with sugar it will run briefly but will then crash and stop. You get it, right? If you want your car to be in good working condition and last, you have to take good care of it, same goes with your body.

Praise God I have never had a problem with substance abuse. I’ve seen friends struggle with tobacco addiction and I will tell you that most of my friends who successfully quit smoking did it with God’s help. Cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, these things literally destroy the body.

I hope you take the time to get your Bible or pull up an online Bible and read the entire chapter. This scripture passage is at the end of the chapter. The verses prior to this talk about taking proper care of our bodies. Of course overindulgence is one problem, the other is sexual immorality.

You see God is not only concerned with what we take into our bodies but how we use our bodies.

If we go back to the car analogy, the car is used to get us where we want to go. The body is to be used to get us where we want to go but also to serve God. God paid a hefty price for us. When we accept all He has to offer, we commit to serve Him. Our bodies are the vessels used to help us to serve Him. Above all our bodies should be used to glorify God.

So think about this, would you trash your car? Probably not. Would you trash your church? I would certainly hope not. Then why would you trash your body? We are only given one earthly body. Take good care of it, it may have to last you for a while.

If you are dealing with an addiction, pray to God for the strength to resist temptation. If you need additional help, contact me through the website.

If you are just wanting to get healthy, memorize this verse. Call on this verse when you are tempted to eat foods that you know are bad for you. Call on this verse when you are tempted to skip your workout.

Remember God wants the best for us, he will help us but we have to ask.

There is no time like the present to start taking better care of yourself. Have a great day!