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Christian Living

WeightLossCoaching 02/25/09

Treating Your Temple with Respect

"Do you not know that your body is a temple 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 body" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Honor God with your body? When it comes to the context of weight -- overweight, underweight, or morbidly obesity -- consider how we repeatedly dishonor God with our bodies. I never really thought about it in those terms until I read this from Corinthians.

If our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, how then can we treat them so unhealthfully? To pour soft drinks and other sugar-filled beverages into our bodies, to eat diets consisting of little that resembles the food that God provides for us (fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, etc!) and to instead survive on greasy, fat-filled, overly processed foods and live idle sedentary existences made up of hours of television and computer viewing each day isn't really honoring God with our bodies, is it?

Have you ever used a rental car, or lived in a rental home or apartment? Generally when we are just borrowing something, we take really good care of it, better care than if we didn't have to give it back soon. Even when borrowing a book from the library or something from a friend we tend to treat these things with great care because they aren't "ours" to ruin or allow to show "wear and tear." Yet, Corinthians reminds us that "you are not your own." We are simply borrowing our bodies from God. He gave them to us to house our souls while in this Earthly world. Like anything on loan to us, we should treat them with great care; thus, honoring our God who lent them to us!

I think looking at weight loss from this perspective rather than "having to diet" might make healthy living something that you LOVE to do because you know you are serving the Lord by doing so, and therefore make it much less of a "have to do" chore or burden.

If Jesus were going to be staying this week with you at your house,what would you do? How would you live? What would you feed Him? Would you eat what you ate last week in front of Him?

I don't think any of us would take Jesus to McDonalds for lunch and order him a Big Mac, fries, and a Coke. I doubt that anyone would pour a bowl of cereal and give it to Jesus for breakfast, nor would you give him a frozen dinner!

I thought about what I would do if I had the chance to have Jesus over. I would make a breakfast filled with fresh cut fruit, scrambled eggs, toast, and juice, prepare a salad filled with fresh vegetables and some grilled chicken for lunch, and dinner would likely be a roast chicken, steamed brocolli, a rice or pasta side dish, a glass of milk maybe, and a whole grain roll. I would ask Jesus to go to the gym with me and assure Him that He would love the Body Pump class that I attend. I would ask Him if He would like to go for a walk with my family and our dogs after dinner. I would LOVE to have the chance to do that.

If we believe in the trinity -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and that all are one -- then guess what? You have Jesus over every day!  YOUR body  is a temple for the Holy Spirit! Every day!

So, you have to ask yourself, what kind of a host or hostess are YOU?

Julia

ViceBusting... everything else is just a diet!

http://www.vicebustingdiet.com

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