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How Clean is Your Temple? By Darci Escandon

“ ..Or didn't you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don't you see that you can't live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.” ~1 Corinthians 6:20 The Message (MSG)

Now, I know when Paul wrote this letter, he was talking to the people in Corinth who were acting carnally. Corinth, at that time, was the “ Sin City” of the world. However, when I read this verse, I was immediately reminded of something a friend said once

“ God gave us our bodies to treat like a temple and He expects us to be good stewards of everything he gave us including our bodies. How can we be the hands and feet of Christ when we are overweight and sick?” ~ Melissa Wedel

Melissa is right. How can we expect to be able to help others when we have let ourselves go? Obesity is at a record high in this country. According to the CDC Website (http://www.cdc.gov/pdf/facts_ about_obesity_in_the_united_ states.pdf )

 Fact: Obesity rates are soaring in the U.S.

Between 1980 and 2000, obesity rates doubled among adults. About 60 million adults, or 30% of the adult population, are now obese.

Similarly since 1980, overweight rates have doubled among children and tripled among adolescents – increasing the number of years they are exposed to the health risks of obesity.

 God gave us a beautiful and wonderful gift of life. We only have one, and contrary to what the world wants you to believe, we do have an expiration date. Just as we need to nourish our spirit through staying in the word of God, we also need to nourish our bodies.

Obesity is preventable. Once again, according to the CDC:

 Fact: Most people still do not practice healthy behaviors that can prevent obesity

 The primary behaviors causing the obesity epidemic are well known and preventable: physical inactivity and unhealthy diet. Despite this knowledge:

·         Only about 25% of U.S. adults eat the recommended five or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day.

·         Less than 25% of adolescents eat the recommended five or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day.

·         More than 50% of American adults do not get the recommended amount of physical activity to provide health benefits.

·         More than a third of young people in grades 9–12 do not regularly engage in vigorous physical activity.

 So, given this information, what does it say about the way we our maintaining God’s temple. Thank about all the junk you bring into it, would you bring that type of junk into your church?

 Think about it. God knew we would be up against this sort of struggle.

 “ And put a knife to your throat If you are a man given to appetite.” ~ Proverbs 23:2 New King James Version (NKJV)

God knew we would have struggles:

“ But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” ~ Romans 13:14 New King James Version (NKJV)

Eating healthy and exercising is vital for us to keep our temples in order. Did you know that it is virtually impossible to be depressed after a good workout? Our bodies will function better if they are getting the right kind of fuel. Afterall, you wouldn’t let your car run out of gas would you? If you needed to fill it up, would you fill it up with pancake syrup? I don’t think so? But yet, we do the same things to our bodies when we neglect to give them the right nutrition.

 There are a lot of good website that provide nutrition and exercise help for free. All you have to do is take the first step. Are you willing do to that so that you can clean out God’s temple and make it a place He would be proud to enter?

There are days where I really don’t want to exercise. Sometimes, I’m tired or other times, I’m feeling just plain lazy. We all know the physical benefits of exercising, that’s obvious but, do we know the emotional and mental benefits of exercise? Exercise helps so many things…but most importantly, it helps our minds the most.

2 Timothy 1:7 says (New King James Version)

“For God did not give us the spirit of fear, but of Power, Love and a SOUND MIND”.

Other Bible versions such as The New Living Translation write:

“For God did not give us the spirit of fear, but of POWER, LOVE AND SELF DISCIPLINE”

The things that jump at me from this verse are that God has given me everything I need to get through life. The enemy attacks our mind on a daily basis. God knows this. We are told we have to renew our minds on a daily basis:

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” Romans 12:2 (New American Standard Bible)

“that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of our mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” Ephesians 4:22-24 (New American Standard Bible)

So, we know we are instructed in what we need to do, but, how do we do it when the world feels like it is crashing down on us? How do we renew our minds when that panic attack comes or we are fearful and stressed out about a situation?

Obviously, we need to study our Bible. Knowing what is in between the pages of this amazing book allows us to grow in our relationship with God. Reading His word and studying it is one of the most important things we can do. When we cry out Gods word to the enemy, he has no choice but to tuck tail and turn away. God’s word is that powerful. The mind is definitely, the devil’s playground and we need to guard it at all times.

What does that have to do with 2 Timothy 1:7 and exercise? More than you can possibly know.

In the verse, we are told that God does not give us the spirit of fear. So when we feel that anxiety or stress coming on, we can recognize that this feeling is not a spirit of God. No, God gives us power over that. He gives us the spirit of power over fear, power of love so that we can love ourselves and others and most importantly, He gives us self discipline so that we can study His word and live the lifestyle He wants us to lead and the power of a sound mind so that we do not have to be a slave do self defeating thoughts. With a sound mind, we can hear His voice and know which thoughts are from God and which thoughts are from the enemy.

What does exercise have to do with all that? Everything. When you exercise, your mind is filled with endorphins and it is practically impossible to feel stressed, depressed or anxious after a good workout. Exercise helps clear your mind of the mess of thoughts that may be running through it and it also helps your body stay healthy. It helps us to treat our bodies as a temple, just as God has instructed us.

So, when things are going bad or I’m feeling overwhelmed, I know that if I turn to God’s word and get up and start moving around, I can deal with the things that the world wants to throw at me. It’s so much easier to take medication and become a slave to circumstance and laziness. Being of strong mind takes time and practice and ultimate faith in God. It’s not an overnight solution and in the age of instant gratification and “Me now!” ideals, working hard towards mental health is not something that many people want to spend the time to do.

Being in a relationship is hard. It doesn’t matter if it is a friendship, a marriage or being part of a family. Oftentimes, I used to be so quick to point the finger of blame at others…As I have grown in God, He has shown me glimpses of who I was, who I am now and Who I can become. The person I was…well, it wasn’t pretty. I am starting to like the person I am now much, much better and I can’t wait to see the person He has shown me I can become.

However, there is one thing that I find that keeps me from moving forward sometimes. It’s the old blame game. It’s always someone else fault that something goes wrong in my life…my sister is too spoiled, my husband doesn’t make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, the next door neighbors dog ate my paper so now I don’t know what’s going on in the world. Ok, well, that may be a bit extreme, but I am sure you get the picture. It’s always someone else’s fault…That line of thinking has caused me to be judge and jury. There are so many verses in the Bible about judging others and blaming other people as well as forgiveness, however the one that stands out to me the most is this:

"Forgive someone, and you will strengthen your friendship. Keep reminding them, and you will destroy it.”  ~Proverbs 17:9 Easy To Read Version

Wow. What does forgiveness have to do with blame? To me it is everything. If I hold back forgiveness and I am always blaming and telling someone over and over again what they did wrong, I find that I definitely experience broken relationships.

I want so much to have a heart like His. I want to show compassion and forgiveness and tolerance and kindness just like Jesus did to those around Him. I am so thankful for this verse because I am thankful that God loves me enough to show me how I truly look, the good, the bad and the ugly. I love how His word speaks to me and speaks truth into my life whether I want to hear it or not and I am so thankful that He loves me enough to speak truth to me. I am thankful that He helps me to become the person He created me to be. He guides me, He listens to me, He forgives me and He molds me.

Lord, thank you so much for showing me who I am so that I can be who you created me to be. Thank you for your patience in this growth process and thank you for never giving up on me. Lord, I am on my knees begging your forgiveness for harping on others when I should be looking at myself. I ask that you help me heal those broken relationships and help curb my tongue so that I can forgive automatically and love without expectations. Thank you Lord, I praise your name. Amen.

God, I want a word from you today. I know you are at work in my life. Is that the theme for me today? “God is at Work”? It should be my theme of my life for He has been at work in my life, even when I did not want Him There.

As I searched His word, I found these to verses in Galatians. Wow. I’ve read it before but it never really stuck with me, until now.

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” “

~Galatians 2:20-21 New International Version (NIV)

That’s important. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” what does that all really mean? It’s important. I decided to read it in a few more Bible translations before I came across it in the Message Bible:

“What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.

   Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.”

~Galatians 2:19-21 The Message (MSG)

To truly understand this, we must understand that Paul was writing these words to the church in Galatia. The Galatian believers were turning from their belief in Christ back towards the Old Testament Jewish customs. Paul tells how he was converted from Judaism and commissioned by God to preach the gospel of Christ and how he was faithful to his commission. His life stands as an eloquent witness to the truth of the gospel. (IVP New Testament Commentary, Inter Varsity Press) Paul is stating that he has been born again, through his new found faith in Christ and that he has died to the Old Testament Mosaic law. Christ’s death on the cross provided freedom from these old Jewish customs. We are all born new in Christ when we admit that we are powerless to sin, that we need Him and His forgiveness, that He died on the cross for us and that He will come again.

What was your life like before knowing Christ? What was it like immediately after you got saved? For many of us, including myself, life was not pretty. I can relate to what Paul is saying in his letter to the Galatians. Many people in my life after I got saved, led me to many different evangelists, churches, books, teachings and so on, but the one thing they all lacked was the truth about the relationship with God. Many of the teachings were filled with rules and regulations as well as comments such as “if you don’t do this, then your faith isn’t good enough”. For many years after I was saved, I was under more scrutiny and finger pointing than I was before I was saved.

“So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.”   I realized that I was looking to people to lead me. Which is ok, we all need good mentors, but the people I was looking to for guidance were full of ego and pride. They weren’t bad people and they probably had no idea how they were coming across. They were still living by rules and not relationship. So, like Paul, I quit following their rules and dedicated my life to him. All of it, my body, my mind, my spirit, my heart, all of it. I will never be able to impress God. I will never be good enough for Him, but, He loves me and forgives me despite of myself. This life is truly not mine. It is His. I am His vessel. I go where He leads and I do my best to listen when He speaks.

I’m not perfect, I still make mistakes, but life is so much different when you live it for the glory of God. It’s different when you step aside and allow God to show up. My life is lived in faith. People will always judge and point the finger. The only judge I concern myself with is God because He will have the final say.

Lord, thank you for sending your Son to die for our sins. Thank you for loving me enough to discipline me and for revealing yourself to me. Thank you for showing me that even though I am powerless over sin, that I am born with a sin nature, you are bigger than all of it. Thank you for showing me that my life is new in you. Thank you for giving me the strength to stand up against all that judge me and helping me keep you in focus. The opinion of others are not as important as your opinion of me Lord, help me to continue to keep that in perspective. I praise your name Lord! Amen.