A Heart Condition
Many of my good friends call my crazy because they know I am one of the few who actually loves to workout. Having fitness as my job, I know that this is far and few between. I work with many who hate working out and eating healthy in the beginning and later learn to love it. It is not as much about the workouts or the food but about the results; they feel healthier and look better, and this encourages the good choices to continue. But often, as Christians, we can have a skewed perspective on the appearance, structure, and functionality balance that is necessary for our temple to bring honor and glory to God at it's best.
Although we are all made differently, one thing remains the same: we are all made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). For this very fact, we all have the responsibility to take care of the image. If you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you are saved and have been given the Holy Spirit. God does not have a "body"
so our image reflects His nature, but 1 Corinthians 2:16-17 says, "Don't you know that you are God's sanctuary, and that the Spirit of God lives in you? If anyone destroys God's salutary, God will destroy him; for God's sanctuary is holy, and that is what you are." Now in these verses, Paul was referring to the church as a corporate body, but when we have the Spirit in us (Christians) we have this same responsibility.
Now that being said, there are two parts to the temple: the appearance and structure, and it's functionality. Appearance and structure have to do with the upkeep of our health and looks (as God designed each individual to be NOT in trying to look like someone else!), how we treat our body. Function has to do with how well we can serve the Lord based on the condition of our heart and our relationship with the Lord. If either of these are not maintained, we can not serve him to the potential that God desired for us to serve.
PPEARANCE AND STRUCTURE
We have the responsibility to maintain our temple inside and out. The health of our body matters. We have been given one body, from God, thru which we can serve Him. If we are taking that for granted and constantly eating unhealthy foods; drinking or eating, anything, in excess; not exercising our muscles and heart; and not exercising to help prevent osteoporosis... I think you get my point... then we are unable to be used at our greatest, and intended potential.
FUNCTIONALITY
We have an even greater responsibility to maintain our functionality, our heart, our relationship with the Lord. If the body is healthy, looks great, and all is working well, but we have not maintained our heart and relationship with the Lord, then we are of no use to Him at all. "What will it benefit a man if he gains the whole world [has a
great body and health] yet loses his life" (Matthew 16:26)? A temple is of no real use if it only looks good and is structurally sound, yet is full of unhealthy leaders and members, or full of a yucky heart (as my kids would put it).
CONDITION OF THE HEART
So you may be saying, "Wait a minute, I am overweight, so are you saying I am not glorifying God?" No, I am not... You do have a responsibility to work on your health and maintain it, but I actually have no idea if you are glorifying God, that is a heart issue. Or maybe, you are reading this and thinking, "Well, I'm HOT, healthy, fit, and to top it off, I only eat organic! So I am totally glorifying God!" Well... , that may say more than you realize... you may have heart issue too!
"Whether you are a size 2 or a size 22, what you say to yourself about your temple has less to do with the condition of your body and more to do with the condition of your heart" (Rothschild, p. 120).
Luke says in Luke 12:34, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." So, if your focus is primarily on your temple's appearance and structure, then you have become more focused on tearing it down or fixing it up, rather than on honoring the Lord. Your temple has now become about you rather than Him. "The purpose of attending to your temple is not so you will bring honor to the temple; it is to bring honor to the One who dwells in your temple" (Rothschild, p. 121).
If your focus is mostly on appearance and structure then please take the time to ask yourself these few questions:
What is so important about having my appearance and structure take all of my focus?
Why have I allowed my appearance and focus to become my treasure?
Why do I focus all my attention on the created rather than my creator?
What changes can I make to put more focus on my functionality so that I can bring glory and honor my creator?
If your focus is 100% on functionality but you have completely let your appearance and structure go, then I want to encourage to ask yourself a couple questions:
Why am I NOT paying any attention to the wellbeing of my temple's appearance and structure?
How do I truly feel about the way I am choosing to treat the one body that God has gifted to me to use for His glory?
What changes can I make that would begin to improve the health of my temple's structure and appearance?
Whether you think you are the hottest thing who walked on this planet, you workout 24/7, and only eat organic foods, grown from your backyard, or you are overweight and can't stand your body, it is equally unacceptable and dishonorable for you to "discount the loveliness and acceptability of your temple" (Rothschild, p. 121)... to
discount and mistreat your temple or to worship it, is to dishonor it's Creator! There must be a proper balance of where you place your focus on maintaining and fixing up your temple. It is obviously not 50/50%. I only spend 30-40 minutes per day working out. I do eat healthy and, ironically, as much as possible, organic. But I spend about an hour/day in reading God's word, and studying, I try to memorize scripture weekly. I speak to Him throughout the day, asking for advice, seeking His counsel, wisdom, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and love. I take care of my body because He gave it to me and I must honor Him with it, but I honor Him because He is my Creator and I, and my temple, are nothing more than the created. It is always a heart condition. What does your's look like?
