Okay, so here is the one that I have really been dreading ... why? Because God has really been working overtime on me in this area!!!
5. Our Bodies
1 Corinthians 6:15 (New King James Version) Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not!
My body is an area I have struggled with all my life, at least all my life that I have memory of. Even as a young girl, I can remember a friend pointing out to me that I had more belly rolls than she did. When I was younger, I was always involved in some sort of sporting activity. So yes, I may have been heavier than some of the others, but I was not fat. As I have gotten older, my activity level has greatly decreased.
For several years now, I have known that I need to be healthier. I need to eat right and exercise more. I have attempted many times to diet, or make a "life style change" but always end with the same result ... Defeat. One day not to long ago, I was reading God's word, and the above verse jumped off the page at me. At the time, I had not been considering my health, so I was not pleased for this topic to come up. I read the verse again. I said, "God, yes I know my body is a member with Christ. I know it is a temple. But I am not having anything to do with harlots." He answered me very clearly... He told me that for me food is a harlot. OUCH! I had never considered it like that. I do have an obsession with food. I love to eat. Even as I was sitting down to type this, I was thinking about whether I wanted a strawberry out of the refrigerator or a double stuff Oreo out of the cupboard. I passed on both, because the truth is, I am not even hungry. I have to be very guarded and prayerful about the food I eat and why I am eating.
I am happy to report that I have started exercising regularly. Trying to run some, but mostly I am walking. I am also watching the portion size of what I eat, when I eat, and why I eat. The path I am on is slow, and sometimes discouraging. However, I am developing a healthy body. A body that will reflect what it is, a temple of the Most High God.
For me, food is my harlot. For others, it could be soft drinks, sugar, no exercise, too much exercise, tobacco, alcohol, sex outside of marriage ... the list goes on and on. It is whatever you do that keeps you from being healthy, and therefore keeps you from being a good steward with your body.
Kerry,
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting that! This is an area where I have struggled over the past 3 years. Once I became a mother, I started neglecting my body. Satan so easily convinced me that I needed to focus on taking care of my children now and that I could focus on myself once the boys were a little older. Boy was I so easily deceived!
I've never truly believed that my body was a member of Christ (though I have heard this so many times growing up) until recently. I can't wait to fully recover from mono so that I can begin exercising again! Thank you again so much, for truth that you are speaking. I definitely needed to hear that today!