Take Care of Your Body - Tuesday

Your physical health is an important part of making your life count. Today and tomorrow I want to look at the right motivation for getting healthy - what God's says about the importance of your body in 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (HCSB).

God expects me to manage my body - ""Everything is permissible for me,' but not everything is helpful. "Everything is permissible for me,' but I will not be brought under the control of anything." (v12) Your body is a gift from God. He loans it to you and it's your responsibility to manage it well. What are you doing with what He's given you?

My body is God's property -- "The body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord ." (v13) Our culture teaches us that we can do whatever we want with our bodies. But God created our bodies, so we don't have a right to share them with anybody we want.

My body will be resurrected after I die -- "God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power." (v14) God never wastes anything. One day he's going to resurrect a new version of your body.

Our bodies has been referred to as a holy temple of sorts, several times in the bible:
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple

Also, knowing that we are also made in likeness to God's image, we shouldn't forget that when we put ourselves down or neglect our body physically, the temple of God is also stagnating. So all in all, we should treat our bodies with care-- it's not only OUR OWN body, but also God's.

There is some verse like this in the bible but I don't know where it is:
Your body is a holy temple...something along that line.

We were given a certain unique quality to ourselves for a reason. It may not be a feature that you do not appreciate. Of course there is always something that we would want to change. But God turns even the bad things into something good and purposeful.
Also, make sure to care for yourself. The bible talks about loving God and others. You rarely think about loving yourself. But know that he made you in a particular way and you must use this amazing blessing for good and make sure to take care of this gift.

~Audrey~

Oh wow. This is embarassing. I was in the process of eating pecan tarts, Pringles, ruffles, apple juice, chocolate milk and pie before I finally stopped and went to this devo... This devo is something I really need to apply to my life because I do terrible things to my body as far as food goes. My life basically consists of eating 24/7 so in that sense, I'm not respecting my body. As far as the whole sharing my body thing I don't have a problem with that cuz I'm not having sex or anything. I remember Sam said physical fitness is a spiritual discipline so I guess this relates to that principle. What I got from this devo is: God is going to resurrect the bodies we have so we should maintain it well for him.

So this topic I also found difficult to relate & do devotions to (I doubt any of us can relate to the whole sharing our physical body & how it's not for our sexual immortality part). I guess drinking, smoking, getting high, & even self harming are things that we need to avoid to keep our bodies holy

Like Julie & Audrey said, I have read countless times in the book of Corinthians that our body is a temple (church) of God, & that any place that the Holy Spirit dwells in is described and defined as Holy. Like Pastor Sam said a church is a holy place, & in a sense our bodies are churches so we must keep ourselves holy.

I guess that in a more applicable way of thinking, we must cleanse ourselves of sin and take away all the bad in our lives before accepting Christ into our lives. In Sunday school, we've always answered "Jesus lives in my heart" when asked where is Jesus. Personally, I've always imagine Jesus sitting inside my heart in which I imagined as a very clean place well-suited for God (because back then I didn't really know what a real heart looked like) & as silly as this sounds we really need to change our ways to make a place worthy of His presence. Destroying our bodies with all these worldly sins is (in my opinion) simply pu, is not a holy place where God should be a late of.

Each one of us is God's masterpiece, meaning he made us in His image and according to His will. That saying, our bodies are something we should value and treasure as it is a gift from God. Physically speaking, we should manage our bodies to respect the gift God has given us. Spiritually, since the Holly Spirit lives inside of us, we need to keep our hearts and minds clean and as best fit to the Lord as possible. The devo reminds us that our bodies, although maintained and moved by us, is God's as He was the one who created us. In essence taking care of our bodies is a way of showing gratitude and respect to God.

My computer has a bad habit of malfunctioning and completely ignoring the fact that I post a devo and therefore making me have to do it all over again... Sigh..
ANYWAYS,
I feel as though this devo is talking a lot about how we do not recognize the importance of our bodies, and at times abuse their purposes. Taking care of your body doesn't just mean LOOKING the part, but feeling that way too. Being healthy, fit and staying active are all pleasing to God, as it is stated in the Bible that we are all God's temples, and we must nurture our bodies and fulfill what is required of us in order to please Him.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.
Keeping ourselves healthy and taking care of your body also means to not use them for our personal pleasure and enjoyment, but for God's. Which means that we shouldn't be hurting our bodies with all of the earthly sins such as drugs, cigarettes etc.
Overall, just always remember to try and have a healthy body, because it will benefit you in terms of boosting your self-e-steem and keeping you happy, as well as make it easier to please God.
As Hannah Montana says in her song "I came in like a wrecking ball!" wait, wrong lyrics... "Nobody's perfect, I gotta work it!" Yeah that sounds more relevant...   
p.s. if this doesnt post im gonna cry

I think physically, our bodies are pretty amazing than what we give it credit for. For me, just learning about what our body does constantly, down to the smallest possible units of life, makes you appreciate having a body even more. I think if we find this appreciation of our abilities through our bodies, our blessings through them and whatnot, we'll be able to see why we should manage it for God. Our bodies are so valuable, it was bought by Christ on the cross, therefore we should treat it with care and respect. Personally, I haven't been quite able to achieve that, because I've always pointed out the flaws that I have and focused on that, so I never had appreciation or respect for what I have. However, I feel that if one begins to develop a perspective that our bodies are a gift from God (Psalm 139:13-16), it's precious, and it's more valuable then we could ever imagine, then we'll start treating our bodies in the way they deserve.
I think it's good to honour what God has given us, by giving the care our bodies deserve. I think that could go from clean-eating, exercise, sleeping early, staying away from drugs(...), etc. although some things are easier said than done.
Furthermore, I think it's important to glorify God through our body. If we do something that is potentially harmful to our bodies, how will that glorify God?
It's important that we keep our focus on God, in everything we do. Before we make a decision that impacts our bodies, even in the most minuscule way, it's important to keep God in mind, and think: is this for Him or for myself?

27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
(1 Corinthians 9:27 ESV)

12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
(Romans 12:1 NIV)

This devo reminds me that nothing that we think we have is really ours.
Our homes, our possessions, and bodies are all God's, meaning that we are living solely through the grace of God. Doesn't this mean that everything we have should be used according to the will of our owner?

Its like the parable of the talents, where the master gives his talents to his servants. He doesn't do this so that they can spend it on themselves or even to keep it as it is, but to use what was given to them in order to gain even more. In the same way, we should use our bodies to glorify God and advance His Kingdom, instead of for our naturally selfish desires.

In order to do this, we have to make sure that what was given to us is functioning at its very best, and if it is not, we need to work towards that. This is not just to make us look healthier or stronger, but it is to ensure that we are able to do whatever it is that we are called to do. Respecting your own body is another way of respecting God.

God has given us many gifts, yet we abuse them. We shouldn't be using God's gifts for foolish reasons. God has given us bodies to live with, and some people use it for foolish things like sexual immorality. We should take care of our bodies, as God loaned them to us, and we should take care of them. We shouldn't use his gifts for our own needs, but for God. When we die, we can return what God has given us in good shape.