Understanding the purpose of our bodies
What is the Purpose of our Body
What is the body? Let’s take a moment and look at a few bible verses.
Romans 12:1 – Therefore I urge you brothers in the view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God, this is your spiritual act of worship.
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Sexual Immorality
12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 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; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
Corinthians 3:16-17 – Don’t you know that you yourself are God’s Holy temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you. If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy them, for God’s temple is sacred and you are that temple.
2 Corinthians 6:16 – For we are all the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will live with them and walk among them and I will be their God and they will be my people.
Acts 17:24 – God does not live in temples built by men.
2 Corinthians 6:16 – First part what agreement is there between then temples of God and idols.
Matthew 26:41 – The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
Luke 12:34 – For where your treasure is that is where your heart will be.
Romans 6:13, 14 – Do not offer parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness but rather offer yourself to God as those who have been brought from death to life and offer parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Ephesians 5:29 – After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it.
There are several verses on two will become one flesh.
Genesis 2:24 that is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Mark 10:8 and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
1 Corinthians 6:16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.
Ephesians 5:31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.
Our bodies are not our own, they are Holy temples of the Lord’s.
The Holy Spirit resides in our bodies and we are called not to defile our bodies.
In Romans we are called to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice.
We have been called to serve the Lord and to serve one another.
If we are not physically fit, emotionally fit, it becomes difficult to serve others because we first must take care of our physical and emotional needs, thus causing us to focus on ourselves, our needs, before the needs of others.
It is therefore critical to take care of ourselves physically and emotionally (mentally) so that we can be available to our Father to do his will and purpose.
Too many of us are consumed with our own needs of self-preservation to be of service to others. We become physical, mentally and emotionally unavailable to do his will because of our total disregard for ourselves and total disregard of God.
Heavenly Father has said to not worry about what we will eat; he will provide that which we need.
Many of us live from one meal to another, one snack to another never stopping to think what impact that food has on our bodies, our minds, and our emotional well- being.
We defile the temple of the Lord by overeating or eating the wrong combinations of food, polluting our bodies with nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, and medication, drugs of all kinds, food, and in-activity.
We need to be mindful of the physical as well as the psychological impact of anything that enters our bodies.
We eat food to sustain ourselves, not to over indulge.
It is important to remember to limit your consumption of alcohol, stay away from cigarettes, do not take unneeded or unwarranted medication, use drugs of any kind, consume excessive amounts of food or the wrong combination of foods (too much of anything is bad, moderation is the key) and don’t limit your physical well-being by inactivity.
In Romans we are told to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice.
Our bodies are not our own, they belong to our Father in Heaven.
We sacrifice our bodies to him as a witness or testimony of our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
We don’t own our bodies; our Father in Heaven owns them.
In 1 Corinthians 3:16 – we see that God’s spirit (Holy) dwells within us and we are called not to destroy our body, his temple, for if we do we will be destroyed.
Destroy – to ruin thoroughly, to tear or break apart. Kill.
If we go on the path of self-gratification Heavenly Father promises us he will destroy our body because he will not reside in unclean or unholy temples.
When we choose to ignore or deny God by allowing impure or improper things to enter into our bodies God will not reside in you, he will leave you, he will abandon your holy temple, and the Holy Spirit will no longer continue to dwell there. We will be out of touch and out of communication with the Lord.
He will not hear our prayers, he will not answer our prayers, he will not listen when we call out his name, he has not forsaken us nor will he ever leave us, he will not ever totally abandon us but he will not reside in unclean temples.
1 Corinthians 16:19 – we are told that the Holy Spirit lives with-in us.
The spirit lives within each and every one of us, but he won’t for long if we defile our bodies – he will depart, leaving us in darkness, out of touch with the Lord through his son Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit prompts us on how to pray and what to pray about.
Romans 8:26, 27 – If he is not available to us we lose out. We will no longer be inspired to pray to seek our Lord’s guidance, we will no longer seek our Lord, our eyes and ears will be closed to his voice and we will miss out on our opportunity to be of service to others.
Excessive amounts of food and the wrong combinations of food (sugar, carbohydrates, proteins, vegetables, and fruits, dairy) alter our physical and emotional well-being.
Luke 12:22-31
Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24 Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?27 “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
What are we called to do, seek ye first the kingdom of God, as it says in the Lord’s Prayer.
Matthew 6:4 – On earth as it is in Heaven.
It also says in that prayer your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
Not our will but his will.
Our bodies are not our bodies, but his bodies to bring about his purpose which is to bring about the immortality of all men, to offer men an opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, be baptized in his name, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and obey his word and commandments until the day we leave our mortal bodies.
Heavenly Father has said do not worry about what you eat or how you clothe yourself. He will provide as needed and required – have faith, believe and have no doubt, the Lord will provide.
2 Corinthians 6:16 – it says what agreement is there between God and idols.
What is an idol? An image that is worshipped, one that is blindly adored.
How many of us say we love chocolate, a good steak, ice cream, French fries, a good salad with ranch dressing, name the food and someone, somewhere could be heard saying, I love…
For many of us our love for food, cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, and medication has become our idol.
We worship blindly those substances that enter our bodies more than we worship our Father in Heaven.
How much time do you spend eating each day, smoking, drinking?
How much time are you under the physical and psychological effect of medication, drugs, alcohol and other stimulants or depressants. The effect of any substance that enters the bodies is both physically and psychologically impacting our existence minute by minute, hour by hour; day by day.
How long does it take to eat a 10 ounce steak? 10 minutes? How long do you think it takes the body to absorb the steak? 10 hours.
Things we put into our bodies all have a consequence.
The wrong or improper combination of those things placed into our bodies by our choice have a definite impact on our physical and psychological well-being. Just ask the person who is 200 pounds overweight, the alcoholic, the caffeine addicted, the drug addicted, the medicated person, how they feel about themselves. I would venture to guess that not many of them would tell you that they feel great about their addiction or idolization of that substance they feel compelled to ingest into their bodies.
How could anyone so consumed by their own addiction be of value or service to others and to the Lord?
Their own self-seeking gratification of their addiction renders them almost useless.
The Lord’s spirit will not and I repeat will not reside there.
These people who idolize their addiction above the Lord will be left in darkness, weeping and wailing, gnashing their teeth.
They will experience pain, suffering, misery that will lead them to total destruction. They bring this upon themselves.
1 Corinthians 6:12 – we see that our Heavenly Father has made all things permissible (free will), however not everything is beneficial and we are called to not be mastered by anything.
If we allow food, drugs, alcohol, medication to be our master, how can we allow our Lord to be our master?
Matthew 6:24 – he says no one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and food, alcohol, caffeine, medication, drugs.
You will choose one over the other, as for me and my house we choose to serve the Lord.
Food is meant to sustain us, not control us.
We become controlled by food when we eat too much, not eat enough, eat the wrong things or eat things in combination with one another which renders them useless to our bodies.
Remember you are what you eat! Eat the right foods and your body and your mind will reward you with health, vigor and vitality.
Eat the wrong foods or combination of foods and your body and your mind will reward you with ill health, lack of motivation, you will not have energy, you will feel sleepy or tired, your spirit will shrink and you will sense a feeling of complacency.
Proper nutrition gives us strength and energy.
We need strength and energy to do the work of the Lord.
Proper nutrition also gives us clarity of thought, mind and purpose.
We spend less time thinking and feeling about the effects of the food and spend more time thinking about how we can be of service to the Lord.
When we become free of the effects of food, caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, drugs, medication we then allow ourselves to focus and concentrate our mental energies and our bodies in a manner which adds more value to our lives.
By adding more value to our lives we are free to experience life in its fullest.
A healthy mind, body and spirit may then be used by our Father in Heaven to fulfill his purpose which is to bring about the immortality of all men.
When we over eat, self-medicate or defile our bodies in any way, shape or form contrary to our Father’s commands we render ourselves useless to him and the furtherance of his kingdom and he does promise his spirit will not reside in unclean temples and that he will destroy those who defile his temple.
Therefore be extremely cautious of everything that enters into your bodies,
I mean everything.
Ask yourself this question. Does this substance I am about to impart into my body gratify the Lord, will it magnify my calling, will my ability to love and serve increase or am I polluting my body, my mind and this casting out the spirit of the Lord that longs to dwell in me?
If the spirit is not within us, we are unable to serve him!
When we don’t serve him, we serve ourselves and the world around us.
He no longer calls upon us to do his work, we therefore remain in a state of pain and misery, in total darkness, wondering, worrying, uninformed and without hope.
Choose not to defile the body and the mind, choose to live to love and serve the Lord.
Choose to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior.
Choose life over death.
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