Caring for our temples

Caring for our Temples

This week the Holy Spirit placed on my mind the verse “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.” (1Cor.6:19, NIV)  As I reflected on this verse I have to first of all, determine what is a temple?  In my thinking, it is a holy place, a sacred place, a place of worship and adoration.

            Wow!  That makes me stop and really think—a holy place, a sacred place.  How does one take care of a holy place?  Certainly with reverence, maintaining it well.

            I need, to tenderly, lovingly care for my body, a holy place.

            Then, I realized I had to determine how to do that.  I think the answer is found in the mantra we’ve heard for years:  rest (7 to 8 hours of sleep a night), exercise (250 minutes a week), and eat a healthy diet is a partial answer to the question

            That last one is where we Americans can so easily get tripped up.  Watch TV for two hours in the evening and record how many food ads you see about unhealthy foods (i.e., junk food).  Open a Good Housekeeping magazine or a Woman’s Day magazine and count the food ads for unhealthy foods.  We’re bombarded with “Buy this; no, buy this.”

            When we enter the middle aisles of a supermarket, the potato chips, Oreos, chocolate chip cookies or Twinkies almost jump off the shelves into our carts.  We justify buying them with, “Well, Bill or Bonnie (spouse) likes chips,” or “The kids love Oreos.” 

            The question is this:  Does Bill or Bonnie or the kids need the junk food any more than we do?  Of course not, for their bodies are “temples of the Holy Spirit” also.  Since we are all members of the Body of Christ it’s up to all of us to care for and about ourselves and each other.  We need to tenderly, lovingly care for our temple and help others care for theirs.

                                                                                                            Sharon Witty

                                                                                                            August 16, 2018

Inside Out

Last time Sharon shared that we need to call on Jesus sooner in our struggles with food. And do we ever have struggles!

Society doesn’t make eating healthy easy, does it? Turn on the television and commercials bombard our minds with tempting-looking, steaming hot pizza and juicy burgers, with melted cheese stretching across the screen. Restaurants call us in with bargain prices and banners or posters with bigger-than-life meals. Every grocery aisle is packed with displays of sweet treats, yummy-looking baked goods and store-made desserts. Magazines are filled with perfectly manicured foods that lure us into the quicksand of empty calories.

“Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you,” (Romans 12:2 MSG).

Scripture tells us we need to fix our attention on God (away from the TV and flashing signs of distraction) and allow Him to change us from the inside (where our stomachs and brains are). Let’s allow God to bring out the best in us. He will give us the ability to calm our cravings, choose healthy options, take a walk around the block, and make mature choices. 

We aren’t alone in this walk. We have a life-partner in Jesus Christ who can help us through all our struggles. And Sharon and I are here, too.

Blessings,

Gloria D. Stewart