Surely, I must have not known that my body was a temple. I’m just like the people; I had turned away from God. … The phrase itself comes from 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? And I was missing it. But people…unfortunately, they don’t look at the heart so much. Your body is your temple. As the meal commenced, and the conversation began to flow, this woman, who had so graciously asked me to have lunch, made this pronouncement, “God wants you to know that your body is a temple and He is not pleased with the way you have been treating it.”. No, now you are the temple. I’ve been reading in Ezra and Nehemiah lately and there is a lot of history about God’s temple in Jerusalem. I asked the Lord to show me how I can apply these history lessons to my own life. I promise.”. I have also weighed more than 100 pounds. This program is 12 weeks of videos with worksheets and email support to help you break free from emotional eating for good. To keep a healthy temple it’s important to eat healthy foods, get the right amount of sleep and exercise. Eat when you’re hungry. We tend to assign judgment when we wield the statement, “your body is a temple.”. We owe it to God to keep them healthy. Because I was looking at other things to make me happy, there was a separation between me and God. Your body is a temple, you chain-smoking, tattooed, sugar-indulging, temple-defiler. Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates. As the years went by, the people and the kings were drawn away from God. Their temples have been defiled, there is no denying that. It was an incontrovertible fact, after all. “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?”. Christians believe the spirit of God lives within and the body houses the Holy Spirit. He is not here. Consider us your support team with a program that helps you honor your body on a daily basis through exercise, good nutrition, and a positive outlook. I also share this in an attempt to clarify that appearance is often a poor reflection of what is really going on beneath the surface, in the hidden parts of who we are. The food I had just taken a bite of turned to sawdust in my mouth and I began to stammer, crumbs cascading from my lips, “I know…I’m trying…I’ll do better. But when he comes at you, you can be like those builders and be ready with the Sword of the Spirit even as you continue to rebuild. King David’s son, Solomon, built a magnificent temple in Jerusalem. We can be guilty of neglecting God’s temple. It was the medicine that promised to bring freedom and Godliness. I already have that! I need a temple that is filled with the resurrected glory of the Holy Spirit. It really is. It's equally a tragedy that the very language, "Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit," has been hijacked to mean something diametrically opposed to its original intent. For the Word of God is not a message of condemnation. The minute a pastor’s wife shook off the shackles of the shameful pronouncements of others and believed that gospel really is good news. It is a tragedy, in fact, that the very things we all have in common with one another--our humanity and our deep-rooted need to find meaning in this life--are dissected and judged and found wanting. We’ve been guilty of going to those false idols in hope that they will finally make us happy. God never wanted anything to separate us from Him. Ok, then. “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.” Whether you are religious or not, this statement has special meaning for everyone because we all struggle with the need to change ourselves. You know that He loves you, but you feel far from Him, just like the Israelites felt when they were in exile. I was a walking advertisement for an eating disorder. At the times I weighed more than 100 pounds I also struggled with an eating disorder. Truthfully, the struggle during that period of my life, when I was at a “normal” weight and appearance, was every bit as hellish, maybe more so, than when I looked the part of a woman who obviously degraded her body by unnatural means in order to stay thin. Because that shame choked moment was refining me, even then. I was obviously completely unaware that my body was a temple, right? Did she eat too much soy? This concern was usually voiced in one familiar, unending refrain. I needed to treat my body better if I wished to certified as a suitable temple in which the Holy Spirit of the Loving God could reside. The standard has already been met. I wish I could slip into the seat beside her and squeeze her hand and assure her that God’s feelings for her had nothing to do with the way she was treating her body. Which, incidentally, I had. 1 Corinthians 6:19 (you may have heard it before) says, “Don’t you know that YOUR BODY is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?”. These signals are as unique as you are. Perhaps at this point you may be thinking, well, it's unfortunate that you had a negative experience with the way that Scripture was used, but it doesn't negate the fact that it is true. Not at all. Rather than sweat the small stuff, focus on the small and large gains that you make by changing your lifestyle for the healthier. The worst thing we can do to our bodies is to have a sedentary lifestyle because it doesn’t give our body, including muscles, the movement necessary to perform well. And fully loved. Those all go away after just a few months of sitting all day and night. You yourself may even have forgotten that it originated in the Bible, referring to how Believers carry the Spirit of God within them. There is a saying that if you don’t use it, you lose it, and that goes with flexibility, balance, stamina, and coordination. When the Apostle Paul wrote the words "Your body is a temple" to the church in Corinth he was saying this: You no longer have to go to a building, an ornate, gilded temple built with your blood, toil and sacrifice, in order to meet with your god. eating disorders, dieting, Christian living, recovery. That’s why he does everything he can to keep you in bondage to diets and hating your body. You can go back and rebuild. How about heart disease? As we build back our temples by trusting God, by eating the way He intended for us, you can guarantee that we’ll be met with opposition. Therefore, how we behave, think and speak, and what we let into the temple through our eyes and ears becomes critically important as well, for every thought, word and deed is in His view. Only now, instead of requiring a suitable building, we demand a suitable physical body; maintained in accordance with strict rules and regulations, in the great hope that it would be considered good enough for a holy God to make His habitation there. They started serving idols and setting up places to sacrifice and worship to other gods. Get started on your journey to freedom right now! And your God has built this temple in you with His own blood, toil and sacrifice." Who then judges the intentions of a person’s heart? With all the different diets out there, how can we figure out the way God wants us to eat? If we neglect our bodies, the condition of our bodies will begin to separate us from Him. What kind of cancer did she have? A seed had been planted of defiance. I wish I could talk to her. Eat foods as close to the way God made them as possible. It strips the world’s standards--what we are conditioned to believe our physical bodies are supposed to be--of all power to define who we are in Christ. Did her father have heart disease, too? Learn how to say goodbye to diets forever. The minute the angels clothed in robes of white lightning, sentinels to an empty tomb, said, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? Mom. Are you prepared to be the judge of who is or is not a temple defiler? Hence, the concern. Just like the Israelites chased after idols, have you been looking at idols? I want to tell you about another resource we have here at AshleyVarner.com. A handful of kings down the line came back to the Lord and rebuilt or repaired the temple, but after a while (and many many warnings), the sin of the people was so great and God allowed them to be taken in exile to Babylon. We’re talking literal metric tons of gold, silver, and bronze. Rekindle your relationship with your Creator and establish a new respect for your body. Obviously. Everything was overlaid with gold or made of gold, silver, or bronze. After about 70 years, God impressed on the new Persian king, Darius, to let some of the Israelites go back and rebuild the temple. The end result is the same: a “broken down temple”. “Your body is a temple” is a common expression—the meaning of which has become distorted over time. There are many ways you can honor your body. Some even sacrificed and worshiped other gods IN the temple. It was a bitter pill to swallow; but swallow it I must. I promise that there are some great lessons God has for us in regards to our bodies and our health. Every time I skipped a meal, every time I purged, every time I succumbed to a sugary craving, the death-rattle grew louder…YOUR BODY IS A TEMPLE. They look and they judge. Then they become concerned. I promise that there are some great lessons God has for us in regards to our bodies and our health. But by choosing the word “temple” to describe the Spirit’s dwelling, He conveys the idea that our bodies are the shrine, or the sacred place, in which the Spirit not only lives, but is worshiped, revered, and honored. Another way is to exercise regularly and continue to move throughout the day. an excuse to feel okay even though you are fat fuck, exaggeration to let other think you are okay while its clearly not. Therefore, since I was ignorant of that blessed truth, I needed to be enlightened of it. I scrambled for the right way to express that I accepted my deserved chastisement. There is stress on a near daily basis and unexpected things that can go wrong. We are fully known. While we can’t change everything that impacts us, we can make changes to ourselves like the shape of our bodies. God used to abide in the temple in Jerusalem, now He chooses to live in US. Looking back at that pastor’s wife in the restaurant, who was me, shamed and defeated, I often feel sad. One day, during the time I was “obviously” struggling, an elder’s wife invited me out to lunch. And your God has built this temple in you with His own blood, toil and sacrifice.". Wife. The most important way is by eating healthy and opting to avoid taking in large portions and reducing our sugar, fat, alcohol, and caffeine intake. How typical … When we eat natural foods, we’re eating foods the way God made them. Believer. He is risen.”. Really, though, concern had nothing to do with making sure I was properly subjugated by the use of weaponized scripture. Would you judge someone with type 2 diabetes as a temple defiler? At all. I was moving forward in my walk with Him spiritually, but physically, I felt really far away from him. How typical of human nature to take this radical, free gift of love and immediately turn it back into what it was before. How could ever have credibility as a representative of the gospel of Christ if my temple looked like a hot mess? Nehemiah 4:18 says, “Each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked.”. I don’t need a fit temple. The worst thing we can do to our bodies is to have a sedentary lifestyle because it doesn’t give our body, including muscles, the movement necessary to perform well. Treating your body like a temple means to honor and respect the body God has created for you.