Your Body: A Temple or a Trashcan

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This series is all about purifying ourselves and using our bodies as a temple for Him rather than a trashcan.

The verse for this series is:

"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;  you were bought at a price.Therefore honor God with your bodies"

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

When you think of a diet, I am sure that if you are like me, all you hear are the first three letters DIEt. Thinking about what you are putting into your bodies is simply not fun. If I want to eat pizza at midnight, I don't want to think of what it will do to my body. If I want to drink a milkshake from Steak and Shake five nights in a row, the last thing I want to think about is what that sugar is doing in my body. I just want to enjoy the stinkin milkshake! 

I love a good thing of fries every now and then...[and when I say every now and then, I mean I could eat them every day...] but here recently when studying for this series, I realized some things. 

Think about back in the old testament days. Only the best of the best-the most refined gold and purest things - were brought into the temple before the Lord. And in the new testament, when people brought unholy things into the temple, Jesus overturned tables and told them all to get out! He only wanted the absolute BEST to be in the house of His Father. 

Read 1 Corinthians 6:19 again. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. 
Wowzers. When I sat here and thought back about all the unhealthy stuff I willingly put into my body, I felt super convicted. Why would I put things into my body that God would advise for me to put straight into the trashcan??

God gave us potatoes, but I definitely don't think that he meant for us to toss them in some oil and fry 'em up and load them with salt. He gave us all of these things, these blessings, of yummy food and options on how to eat them. 
Now, I don't want y'all to think I am going all extremist and only eating fruits and vegetables. I am still going to enjoy a milkshake every now and then. But now I am going to do it in moderation. I am going to watch what goes into the temple. God gave us sugar naturally in His creation (we have also created processed sugar and sweeteners from things in his creation but that is for a whole different post) and he wants us to enjoy it, but not enjoy it so much and on a regular basis that we abuse the gift. 

Also, on the flip side of what goes into your body, how are you taking care of your body? Do you exercise to keep yourself healthy? Are you trying to 'keep the temple clean' so to speak? 
I know that I can do a lot better at this. This summer I have really been slacking. But the way I see it is, if God gives you the ability to use your body, then use it! If your legs are healthy and strong, use them for his glory! Ride a bike, go for a run! If your arms are healthy and strong, lift some weights! If you have kids, lift your kids! If God has given you the gift and ability-use it!
Like my mom says "I go walking because I CAN go walking." She doesn't take her gift of being healthy for granted. 

If you're like me, you may have to find a way of exercising that is actually enjoyable. Matthew can go for an hour long run......AND enjoy it....[he's crazy I know. bless him] I am not as talented as my fiance and would definitely be complaining the whole way. So I found different ways to exercise AND love it. I roller blade around the neighborhood and my ultimate favorite-ZUMBA! You don't have to hate what you're doing when you are exercising. 

I am going to be completely honest here: I did not want to write this post. I knew that once I wrote out the words and hit 'publish' that I would officially be held accountable and really have to try harder at taking care of myself.

But let's do it together shall we? 
Lets go against the grain and decide to take care of this gift, this body, that the Lord has given us. Let's treat our bodies as a temple and not a trashcan.

Now if you'll excuse me, I am going to go do some Zumba!! :)

I hope you all have a great, healthy weekend full of good food and getting your bodies movin! 

xoxo,
Lacey Beth