My body - the Holy Spirits dwelling place. . . ?!?!?!

As some of you know, these last few weeks I have started on a journey to become healthier.  This is not just a sudden idea I had because of the numbers on the scale.  However, that certainly did help.

Over the last several months, maybe a year, I have been exploring what the Holy Spirit means to me and how that affects me.  As I've started to become so aware of the Holy Spirit in my life, I've realized that my body is the dwelling place for Him.

In 1 Corinthians we read “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).  WOW!  As Christians, we have the Spirit of God living in us.  That concept has blown me away.  And as I've thought about that concept, I've thought about what kind of vessel am I.  What am I doing to my body that brings honor to God?  How am I treating my body that dishonors God?

So it was with those thoughts in hand, that I have chosen a path to bring honor to God by creating a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit that brings honor and glory to God.  He is using my body to share the Holy Spirit to others, and if I am treating my body with disrespect and abuse, what does that say to others about where the Holy Spirit is living?

I am not an avid runner.  In fact, for the most part I do not even enjoy exercise.  I enjoy eating well.  I love my sweets.  I like my glasses of wine.  I love just sitting around and hanging out.  And all these things in and of themselves are not wrong.  But what I have started to realize is that any of these things IN EXCESS is bringing dishonor to God.  First of all they are becoming my idols, and second of all it is disrespecting the body that God has given to me.

In my journey to this point, I have realized that it is a laziness that I have allowed to come over me that has gotten me to the point of being overweight.  And as I've thought about my body being a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit, I have really been challenged as to what I am putting into my body.  What I am doing with my body.  How am I honoring God by what I am doing to or with my body?

In Psalm 139, we read about how wonderfully created we are.  God didn't randomly put us together.  We are His workmanship.  In Ephesians 2:10, it states "we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."  How can I do good works when I am not taking care of the body that God has given to me.  How can I hear what the Holy Spirit is telling me, when I am filling my ears and head with things that are not God honoring?  What am I listening to or watching?  If I am filling my thoughts with things that dishonor God, why do I expect to be able to hear Him when I have filled my head with garbage?

I want my temple to be a place that brings honor to God.  I want the food that I eat to be healthy.  I want what I watch and listen to to be things that allow me to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to me, rather than to cloud and muddy up my thoughts.  I want this vessel that God has created in His image to be just that.  I don't want it to be something I have created.  What I have ruined.  I want it to be something that brings honor and glory to God in EVERYTHING that I do. 

When I think of the temple of the Old Testament, it was a place that was made of the finest, most exquisite materials.  It was a place that was the most magnificent.  Why? Because it was where the Holy Spirit rested.  God even gave very specific instructions for the Tabernacle and how it was to be built.  It was the place that God chose to meet the Israelites. It was a place where they could meet God and worship Him.  And that is what God has done with our bodies.  Our bodies, as Christians, are where the Holy Spirit is.  We don't have to look for Him.  He is right here present in our bodies. 

And so I come back to the question - how am I treating the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit?

For me it means eating healthier.  It means getting fit and not allowing myself to become lazy.  It means being so careful of what I watch and listen to.  However, even more, it means becoming aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life.  And by spending time in the Scriptures and in prayer, I am able to take that time to open up my heart to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to me.  I am stripping away the things that clutter that communication.

I realize this was likely a jumbled mess of thoughts and bits and pieces, but I trust that you are able to understand my journey just a little bit and to see how truly we are so blessed to have the Holy Spirit indwelling us. The apostle Paul wrote, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body”. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20