Honour HIS Temple

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 honour God with your bodies. 1 Cor 6:19,20 NIV

 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 1 Cor 3:16 ESV

These verses make it very clear that we have to look after our bodies, after all we are reminded that we are bought at a high price. Don’t thumb your nose at a Holy God!

This blog might annoy or even hurt some readers, but that presupposes that I actually get some folks who will not ignore, but read my musings. What are the things that we have to be careful about if we are serious about honouring God’s Holy Temple? In Paul’s day, it included food which had been offered to idols or not consecrated. It would also have included anything which had a bad influence on the health, eg gluttony which is also warned about in other passages and/or anything which would make them sluggish. Some liquids would hamper bodily functions and make them sluggish. Sound familiar?

But what about today? There are some obvious ones, and that is where I may lose some friends or readers. Some of the things we were warned about in Paul’s day can be directly related to our time, and to us individually. Take overeating. It was a real issue then, and it is a real problem today, especially with all the unhealthy fast foods we consume. The result can be obesity, and a health issue to go along with it. A shorter lifespan is not uncommon. Tell me, is that honouring our Holy God? Oh, I can already hear some overweight folks say, but it’s in my DNA and genes, so I can’t help my weight. I know some obese folks, but I have not come across any who have actually tried to change their eating regime. Why? Easy, because they like their eating lifestyle, and have accepted their weight issue. In fact, they do not see any health issues at all.

What about our national love, and consumption of alcohol? It makes the body woozy, sleepy, unable to drive, stagger etc etc. Is the sight of a drunk man or woman (yes sadly, this includes women too) wandering and staggering home from the pub a sight that glorifies a Holy God? I think not! Unsurprisingly, for me, I tend to think of drinking and smoking in the same breath, so what about tobacco, and the effects on health and example to others? I know in the Bible Paul says to Timothy (who had a stomach problem), a little wine for your stomach’s sake. That little phrase has opened the door to any and all Christians to feel that the consumption of alcohol is acceptable, and even encouraged. The result is a tendency to have wine with a meal for no other reason other than they want to, and not whether or not it honours a Holy God.

Smoking tobacco is addictive, and that includes most vapes. If a smoker is addicted to tobacco, does that not give a message to children and young people, especially when you can become a slave to a legal drug? Use your imagination, and visualise a Christian coming out of church, Bible in hand, and a fag drooping from lips, bouncing up and down while talking. It doesn’t make for a pretty sight, and I would suggest not a good example of a Holy God. Would you agree?

Many folks see no problem in buying a lottery ticket once a week. It’s only a pound so what’s wrong with that? In this case, nothing, but what if it opens the door to a gambling addiction? Don’t tell me you have never heard of a well meaning pound a week turning into an amount which cannot be controlled? There are many ‘super gamblers’ who started in a very small way and didn’t see how they could possibly become addicted. I know it doesn’t happen that way for everyone, but is it worth the risk? That’s another gamble altogether. More to the point, does it give a good outlook for a Holy God?

I know there are other areas which could be mentioned, and you may disagree with some of my own suggestions, but what is the goal? If it is truly to honour the Temple of the Holy Spirit, we should take no chances but take every opportunity to keep our Holy God first and foremost. Nothing is more important as we work to honour His Temple. May we be worthy!