Honoring God With Your Body

"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; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

"Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food." Genesis 1:29

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31

Anyone who knows me knows that food is a major part of my life. I love food, I love everything about it. I love growing it, cooking with it, learning about it, and eating it, of course. One area that I haven't been too interested in until recently was the science of it. More and more though, I've been trying to learn all that I can about nutrition and what foods make the body tick, and in which ways. It's fascinating stuff, and God made our bodies so unique in every way. Digestion alone is such a complex process, and I often find myself wondering the whys- why did God make our bodies this way? And why is it so complicated to take care of them?

All the same, I've felt a drive to do a better job taking care of the body I have, and especially to take better care of my children's bodies. It says right there in 1 Corinthians that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, and knowing that makes me want to do so much better. And for a while there, I think I was kind of slipping a bit. Exercise? Who needs that? I didn't really need to eat a balanced diet- did I? Some of the basic principles of a healthy body though are diet and exercise, and as I would reach at the grocery store for some of those less than healthy products, I would feel that... niggling in the back of my head. That feeling that I should not put this thing in my cart. And then there was my children. What am I teaching them when I just let them eat chicken nuggets, pizza, and hot dogs? I'm not teaching them a whole lot, am I? And I'm certainly not doing them any favors. It's easy for them to tell me the list of foods that they don't like, but what they don't know at their young ages is that taste is constantly developing. There is a reason the experts say to introduce new foods 15 times to babies- tastebuds are some of the most unique thing God developed in us. He gave us this incredible sense of bitterness to keep a young child from putting something poisonous and toxic in our mouths. Anytime I ever hear an adult talk about how much they dislike certain foods, I want to ask them how often they try eating such a thing. Even us grown adults can change our tastes, I know I have.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this post this morning. But because I've felt such a need to do a better job to take care of my body, I've trusted that those feelings were from God. I have started exercising again after a long time of just thinking about exercising. I'm slowly finding that my stamina is building back up, and I do feel much better now that I'm doing it three days a week. Eating wise, there are big changes coming to our household, I think. Some have already been a work-in-progress. God gave us such a wonderful variety of food, we should be eating accordingly. God gave us so many fruits, vegetables, grains, and meats to choose from, that there is no reason for us to eat garbage from a box. Really. God did not make preservatives and call it good. God did not press pork, chicken, and beef parts together, call it a hot dog, and tell us to eat it. And I guess, for me, when I say something like, it really doesn't matter, I'm telling God that he doesn't matter. It's so important that I teach my children that it does matter.

I can tell you that I hate the exercising. I really do. I hate that I'm devoting that 45 minutes in the morning to sweating and raising my heart rate. I haaaaaate it. But I know it's good for me, so I'll keep doing it. I can't think about what else I could be doing during that time, or I will get tempted to fail and stop doing it. I guess I'm of the mindset that this is the only body I'm going to get, and I need to take care of it the best way possible. I need to take care of it in a way that honors God. If I am the temple of the Holy Spirit, I'm not taking care of the temple if I'm putting garbage into it. In fact, by putting garbage in, I make it easier for the devil to attack with disease and illness. So I'm going to continue on this journey that God has laid before me, and I'm going to share the journey with my children. May God give me the perseverance and the patience to see this through.