I didn't plan on blogging today, but something has caught my eye. I don't know where God will take this but I want to spend a few moments in 1 Corinthians 6 :19,20.
19 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, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. (NLT)
The Message Paraphrase says this:
Or didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.
And lastly, in the ISV:
Any other sin that a person commits is outside his body, but the person who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19 You know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God, don’t you? You do not belong to yourselves, 20 because you were bought for a price. Therefore, glorify God with your bodies.
This passage is clearly about sexual sin. But I want to see if perhaps it can mean something deeper...and something wider.
The fact of the Holy Spirit's residence in us is an area of deep mystery. Just as, early in this passage, Paul says that when you unite yourself to someone sexually, you become one with her. Her sins become your sins. And that is how you sin against yourself by immorality. And if you have the Spirit inside you, you taint the temple you carry around in your flesh where the Spirit lives and reigns. You are offering an unclean, abominable sacrifice on the altar in your heart.
Our bodies are holy ground.
Our bodies are the holy place where we are to offer worship to the Father ,Son and Spirit. Clearly sexual sin is abhorrent to the Lord. Sex was to have been a holy sacrifice...a "Thank offering" celebrated between a husband and wife uniting them under and in the Spirit....creating a three-strand cord which is so hard to break.
But not every person is married. Not every married person is intimate with their spouse (not due to their decision). How are other ways we can honor Christ in our bodies? I believe that gluttony is a dishonor to God...and while you don't have to be in the "KetoZone" to please God, I do believe that the foods we eat, we should eat for the purpose of sustaining, benefiting and giving health to our bodies. No eating method should be worshiped. If you center your life around a certain diet and that pursuit occupies all your time and attention then I believe you have dragged into your temple, an idol. A false deity. And it disgraces the Spirit within you.
We should choose a variety of foods...things that will nourish and sustain you and not give you empty calories from eating sweets and foods that tickle the palette. I'm not going to step on toes or give you a superior eating method. Just that what you eat should be offered to God with the request that he use it to bless your body and to strengthen it. Also you should give thanks to God for the food that you have to eat. This is why we pray before eating. This is how we "wash" our food and then can honorably present it to God.
How else can we honor and worship God in our bodies?
"You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. "
Do you get enough rest? Do you get too much rest? Rest strengthens our worship. People who work 18-19 hours a day are heading for disaster. At the very least, keep the Sabbath! That is the day that God has given us OFF to rest. To worship corporately. Do not rob God or your families by overwork. Work is to support the family not for the family to sacrifice themselves on the altar of your job.
Exercise? I know that can sound like a dirty word. But the fact is that our bodies work better, more efficiently, are more strong and healthy when we engage in some exercise daily. In 2010 and 2011, I lost 70 lbs of steroid gain....and worked my body until it was a healthy, strong machine. I could run up and down flights of stairs...even with two brand new metal hips and not be sweating and breathless. I was happy. I was JOYFUL. My body which had just been on the brink of death, was restored and well. My doctor was amazed. Of course then there always comes the temptation to worship the very thing we have to put to death in order to have a sacrifice. And maybe that is what happened. Asthma struck again. My PsA struck again and I needed more surgeries. And that time, I did not rebound. Pain and weakness won and now so many joints are destroyed that I don't even know what exercise I could do. Pain in my feet means no walking or running or even standing. etc.
I know that I need to find some way in which to get this body to move. I will call my doctor to prescribe PT
And we can worship God with our bodies by using the gifts and talents which he has given us. We can cook for a family whose mom is ill. We can do paintings to glorify the Lord. We can dance as the Spirit moves us or as we have the training to do. We can drive someone who needs a ride. We can clean our homes or the home of someone who can't do it themselves. We can shovel or plow snow for the home-bound or elderly.
Worshiping God with your body is not boring. It is not restrictive. Yes there are guidelines and rules...but within them there is much freedom.
19 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, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. (NLT)
The Message Paraphrase says this:
Or didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.
And lastly, in the ISV:
Any other sin that a person commits is outside his body, but the person who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19 You know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God, don’t you? You do not belong to yourselves, 20 because you were bought for a price. Therefore, glorify God with your bodies.
The fact of the Holy Spirit's residence in us is an area of deep mystery. Just as, early in this passage, Paul says that when you unite yourself to someone sexually, you become one with her. Her sins become your sins. And that is how you sin against yourself by immorality. And if you have the Spirit inside you, you taint the temple you carry around in your flesh where the Spirit lives and reigns. You are offering an unclean, abominable sacrifice on the altar in your heart.
Our bodies are holy ground.
Our bodies are the holy place where we are to offer worship to the Father ,Son and Spirit. Clearly sexual sin is abhorrent to the Lord. Sex was to have been a holy sacrifice...a "Thank offering" celebrated between a husband and wife uniting them under and in the Spirit....creating a three-strand cord which is so hard to break.
But not every person is married. Not every married person is intimate with their spouse (not due to their decision). How are other ways we can honor Christ in our bodies? I believe that gluttony is a dishonor to God...and while you don't have to be in the "KetoZone" to please God, I do believe that the foods we eat, we should eat for the purpose of sustaining, benefiting and giving health to our bodies. No eating method should be worshiped. If you center your life around a certain diet and that pursuit occupies all your time and attention then I believe you have dragged into your temple, an idol. A false deity. And it disgraces the Spirit within you.
We should choose a variety of foods...things that will nourish and sustain you and not give you empty calories from eating sweets and foods that tickle the palette. I'm not going to step on toes or give you a superior eating method. Just that what you eat should be offered to God with the request that he use it to bless your body and to strengthen it. Also you should give thanks to God for the food that you have to eat. This is why we pray before eating. This is how we "wash" our food and then can honorably present it to God.
How else can we honor and worship God in our bodies?
"You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body. "
Do you get enough rest? Do you get too much rest? Rest strengthens our worship. People who work 18-19 hours a day are heading for disaster. At the very least, keep the Sabbath! That is the day that God has given us OFF to rest. To worship corporately. Do not rob God or your families by overwork. Work is to support the family not for the family to sacrifice themselves on the altar of your job.
Exercise? I know that can sound like a dirty word. But the fact is that our bodies work better, more efficiently, are more strong and healthy when we engage in some exercise daily. In 2010 and 2011, I lost 70 lbs of steroid gain....and worked my body until it was a healthy, strong machine. I could run up and down flights of stairs...even with two brand new metal hips and not be sweating and breathless. I was happy. I was JOYFUL. My body which had just been on the brink of death, was restored and well. My doctor was amazed. Of course then there always comes the temptation to worship the very thing we have to put to death in order to have a sacrifice. And maybe that is what happened. Asthma struck again. My PsA struck again and I needed more surgeries. And that time, I did not rebound. Pain and weakness won and now so many joints are destroyed that I don't even know what exercise I could do. Pain in my feet means no walking or running or even standing. etc.
I know that I need to find some way in which to get this body to move. I will call my doctor to prescribe PT
And we can worship God with our bodies by using the gifts and talents which he has given us. We can cook for a family whose mom is ill. We can do paintings to glorify the Lord. We can dance as the Spirit moves us or as we have the training to do. We can drive someone who needs a ride. We can clean our homes or the home of someone who can't do it themselves. We can shovel or plow snow for the home-bound or elderly.
Worshiping God with your body is not boring. It is not restrictive. Yes there are guidelines and rules...but within them there is much freedom.
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