Honor Your Temple

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NRSV)

¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple^[a] of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? ²⁰ For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

The above Bible verse speaks to where I am in my life.  It was in the fall of 2015 that some things started happening in my life. Simply put I started to let go and let God. Let God speak to me. Let His will lead me. Really lead me and be a servant (willingly) to that will.

It’s been a hard road ya’ll. Many things and situations have occurred in my life that have kept me in bondage. The bonds were plentiful: spiritually, financially, emotionally and any which way you can imagine. Yes, the outside covering looked good, but trust me when I tell you that the inside package was damaged.

I let myself relax in knowing that I have God’s favor. Appreciating it. Thankful for it, but not doing as He instructed me to do. Being a lazy Christian. You know the kind that only sought God when trials and tribulations were weighing me down like a 5 ton boulder? Yeah, that kind of Christian. Praising him and thanking for keeping me when times were rough and leading me to calmer seas and then putting God in a box when times were good.

Why? Because I was immature in my faith. This year has been about seeking refuge in His word and holding myself accountable for not doing what I’m supposed to. Which lead me to the end of last year having an epiphany about what I want, who I am and what God wants of me.

Those three things have to do with me accepting that my body is a temple that belongs to God and I should honor him with my all.

I sat down last year and started thinking about my relationship with God and how I was not honoring my body by taking care of the vessel. I wasn’t looking at my body as a temple and that was a problem. I’m older now and what I know I learned from past experiences…

• Overeating/not working out – I wasn’t honoring this vessel with drinking wine and pizza and not exercising. My waist line was increasing and I was often too tired. Too tired to pray and too tired to take care of this temple. It was killing me and I made a change to get my fat butt back in the gym.
• Engaging in pre-marital sex – I don’t judge anyone. I’ve made many mistakes. Too many to count, but how could I say that I wanted a man who loved and followed God, but I was giving him my temple to desecrate before marriage? If he truly was a man who loved God, he wouldn’t have a problem in waiting.

These are some of the things that I did that drove a wedge between me and God. It was my own wedge of shame and guilt because I knew better, but I didn’t want to do better. Why? Because I’m lazy. I wanted to be a part-time only when it is convenient Christian. I own it.

What did I do? I changed my mindset. It started with my health and flowed through in my dating and relationship expectations. I began listening more, speaking less and praying without ceasing. It gets hard. I struggle. I’m not perfect. I will stumble and fall, but I thank God for grace and mercy because I’m truly trying to honor this body he gave me. Treat my temple as it should be.