Purpose of Your Body

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

A main point brought out in the post “Honor God with Your Body” is that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. This truth should govern how we treat ourselves. We should eat healthy foods, have good sleeping habits, and exercise to honor God. We should not misuse our body by smoking, drinking, overeating, or being immoral.

We know much about our physical bodies as we have eyes to see, ears to hear, a mind to think, and a heart to pump blood to feed our body the oxygen it needs but do we know much about the human soul?

The physical body at some point no longer grows and eventually does not even work. Take inspiration from the song Oh My Soul by Casting Crowns. God has provided a way to lay down our burdens like worry and anger. A way to receive peace and joy. A way to make sure our soul continues to grow and last forever. 

Index of devotionals

Ideas for Building Up Physical and Spiritual Health

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been writing about the importance of physical and spiritual health. In this final post on this subject, I’d like to put forth some ideas. Each day is a new day and our today can be better than yesterday. This day with God, we can get off on the right track, have the right frame of mind, feel better, be happy, and do amazing things. There are many dietary rules in the Bible that test our obedience. These rules can apply today for the food we take in for our souls including what we read, watch, or think about.

One idea is to go on short vacations by surfing the net for pictures that help connect to a Bible verse, find something that makes us laugh, or find facts about our Creator’s amazing world. This activity has two goals in mind. First, it relaxes our body and mind. Second, it equips us for sharing thoughts and ideas with others.

A prescription for stress is working out with God’s Word, praying, and listening to the Spirit. These activities build muscles of faith which stay strong and build forever. Unlike muscles of the physical body, building up muscles for the soul provides an everlasting gain.

One idea I’ve tried is to mix scripture and exercise into a routine that I call believersize. What you do is find a scripture to memorize and search the internet for pictures that crystallizes a principle from that scripture. You then can put these together into an application like PowerPoint. As you ride your stationary bike or walk on the treadmill, you can view the slides. This is a way to take in God’s Word and exercise at the same time.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” The goal is to take care of God’s temple through a system of scripture memory and exercise. You can have all the latest and greatest exercise equipment but if you never take it out of the box, it’s useless. You have to find something that inspires and there’s nothing like God’s Word to get you started. With believersize, you begin to notice things seem easier. That’s because the intangibles of a winner are being built from the inside and all that internal good stuff just oozes out.

For an inspirational start to your day, join me at This Day with God Devotional.

Abundant Life with a Bright Outlook

Each day during the week, I write a post at this link. The mission of this blog is to demonstrate an instrument for Bible study that uses technology to develop a better way to study the Bible by integrating the principles or core values God gives into our daily life at work and at home. One core value God gives that I think is important is to take care of our physical and mental body.

To continue with the benefits of good physical and mental health, we need to understand that happiness is short term but joy last forever. People get excited about snow in central Texas and when it happens, they build a snow man. But it melts the next day. With God’s word, you build something inside which last forever and can never melt away. Some ways to brighten or warm up your day is to seek the truth of His Word, experience the joy Christ gives, and be aware of the wonder in Creation. These are the true treasures.

Being able to adapt to circumstances, having self-control, and just being a good person are the best prescription for a sound mind and body. The trials we face in this world are not easy but we can believe that our reward is with Christ.

God placed extreme value on us, created us in His image, and crowned us with tremendous honor when He sent His Son to die for us. Because of what He has done for us, we need to give ourselves a chance to be happy. With Christ, we have a chance for abundant life today that only gets better in the long term with daily transformation; growing in grace and a future beyond our wildest imagination.

Take Care of God’s Temple and Honor Him

Take care of yourself because you are God’s temple; a holy place for the Spirit. Honor God with regular exercise, healthy eating, and good sleeping habits. Don’t misuse your body by smoking, drinking, overeating, or being promiscuous. Find your true love and demonstrate devotion. Clear your path to life with enthusiasm, passion, and peace of mind.

A physical workout builds physical muscle and in a similar way we can build muscles of faith by studying God’s Word, prayer, and by listening for direction from the Holy Spirit. If we plant seeds of Christ’s core values into a fertile soul and water with the Spirit, the result is abundant growth. 

Next weekend, I’ll continue with the core value of physical and mental health.

Workers Deserve a Holiday

What is “Labor Day”? It’s a federal holiday in the United States observed on the first Monday in September to celebrate the economic and social contribution of workers. Workers deserve a holiday. Think of the issues faced at work; people issues, personality issues, change issues, and technology issues. The people that work for any organization are very important and valuable for its success. 

This past week, Texas Farm Bureau Insurance recognized this value in giving employees a free lunch and a fifty dollar gift certificate in appreciation for winning the J.D. Power “Highest Customer Satisfaction Among Auto Insurers in the Central Region”. We had the highest score in the central region and second highest score among all Auto Insurance companies in the United States.   

Another way the company I work for has demonstrated the value it places in its employees is to set up a state of the art physical health workout facility at the state office headquarters. The better people feel, the better they can serve their customers. Some companies realize the tremendous benefits of their employee’s health so like Texas Farm Bureau Insurance, they’ve set up workout areas at the business and allow their employees to increase their physical health on company time. 

Studies have also been made to show that faith has a positive effect on physical and mental health. Real faith is not just something you say or believe; it’s something you do. The athlete gains stamina and strength with exercise, the Christian gains faith by reading the bible and applying this to help others. To develop the "Just do it" attitude, we need self discipline. Keep in mind that the bible tells us that our bodies are the dwelling for the Holy Spirit so this should motivate us to have good habits that maintain our bodies. Also, through prayer we can receive directions and develop plans to be more self disciplined.

The mission of another blog of mine at this Link is to demonstrate an instrument for Bible study that uses technology to develop a better way to study the Bible by integrating the principles or core values God gives into our daily lives at work and at home. The Bible teaches how to recharge our batteries. It is up to us to listen and receive the Spirit. Be excited about the future and live each day to the fullest. Today is the first day of the rest of our life. We should learn from the past but not dwell on the mistakes of the past. We should determine what we are enthusiastic about and what inspires us. It may be things like music, friends, Christmas, church, books, movies, travel, eating out, romance, gardening, painting, or sports. 

In the old testament of the bible, the temple was burned down. The people put in a lot of hard work and time to rebuild the temple because it was so important. In 1 Co 3:16 Paul says "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's spirit lives in you?" We all need to respect each other as the Temple of God. With this mindset maybe societies would be more self-disciplined. Proper eating habits and exercise would make everyone healthier. Young people would study and learn making the education system much better. Crime would hardly exist. There would be no stopping the economy as companies would flourish. 

Next weekend, I will continue my thoughts on integrating good physical and mental health as a key principle or core value that God gives us to live an amazing life.