The temple

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.  1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (NLT)

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.   Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)

Oh man.  Right there God tells us that our body is the temple...AND that we are to honor God with it.  So I'm wondering if eating an entire batch of oatmeal cookie dough is as pleasing to God as it to myself.  I am guessing no...phooey. 

You know what always gets me, "they" say that eating all that cookie dough will just make you sick to your stomach and hungrier later because it's empty calories.  I beg to differ.  I love every minute of it, keep going back for it, I have no limits.  I have never gotten sick from the raw eggs or from eating too much of it.  I will eat it instead of dinner and feel just fine...I like to justify it because it is oatmeal, you know, and I do take a 30 minute walk sometimes.

But then I reread that verse...and there He goes, stepping on my already-not-so-pretty-toes.  It's not about what feels good to me, is it?  It is about the body that God gave me and how I must honor Him with it...and not my tummy and tastebuds.  Bummer.  He even says "must" in this version of scripture...not should or if you feel like it today, it reads MUST.  He goes on to say, we were bought with a high price.  What was that high price?  Oh, nothing too major...just His ONE AND ONLY SON...so how do you feel now as you reach into the cookie dough bowl?  

I am a junkie.  Give me some brown sugar, a little Crisco and a spoon and I am in complete bliss...I know, it sounds utterly disgusting, but it's not...you should try it (well, probaby not).  I have even caught my son eating brown sugar out of the container with a spoon.  What is wrong with him?!  Oh, yeah, his mother has lead him by example, a terrible one. 

I often have a one-track mind when it comes to food.  As in, "I want something chocolate, but I don't have any healthy chocolate or my little 100 calorie snack cakes, so what am I gonna do?"  And even though I try to convince myself that I don't need the chocolate...I end up baking a chocolate cake because I am fixated on my "need" for chocolate and it consumes me until I fulfill it.  R-i-d-i-c-u-l-o-u-s.  Or, I'll make my healthy chocolate cake with the pureed pumpkin and I'll then tell myself I can have triple the amount that I should because it is healthy, duh.  Again, completely ridiculous and who am I really fooling?

As I sit here, I'm thinking, hmm, what if God was sitting there watching me devour a whole cake?  And I have to chuckle because, of course, He is watching me eat the cake and the whole bowl of cookie dough...every. single. time.  Oh, how disappointed He must be.  He gave me this body, this flesh that I am to honor Him with, this body that He paid for through the death of His one and only son, and I'm honoring it with lots and lots of sweet stuff.  Then I think of all the people with very unhealthy bodies, through no fault of their own, and realize that I am damaging a precious gift by poisoning my body with artificial chemicals and lots of sugar. 

I know I am only human.  That's right.  Sarah is only human.  Sarah is not all powerful and in control of everything...nope.  But there is one who is...and he is the Almighty Lord and Savior.  And Sarah can do all things through Christ who strengthens her.  And you can too.  Today, just once, tell yourself no to something very yummy and think for a moment, would eating that mass of sweet sugar be an honor to the Lord?  I pray that your answer is no and that mine is too.