The Focus

1 Cor.6:¹⁹ “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.”

Yesterday, we talked about the fact that some people are not pleased with their own body. They do not like what they see in the mirror. It is so bad that it even puts pressure on intimacy between married couples. People are not proud of their bodies, created in the image of God, and God cannot be happy with that. We need to look to the spiritual truths of Christ to overcome the media battery of what ‘beautiful’ looks like. So, what does God’s Word say? Rom.12:¹ “…Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — which is your spiritual worship.” (NIV). The Bible says that the moment we offer our bodies to God, it becomes pleasing to Him because we are His children. Your body becomes pleasing to God because you are offering it to Him, regardless of the shape, the size, and the packs or no packs.

God is our Heavenly Father and when we make ourselves available to Him, He is pleased with us. Have you ever come across a father or a mother that is displeased with their child because the child is short? Where did the shortness come from? Therefore, our holiness and acceptance are not based at all on the size and the shape of our body. Our holiness and acceptance are based on the bruises and the beating on the body of Jesus. My body does not determine my spirituality. The body of Jesus determines my spirituality. My body does not determine whether God accepts me or whether God does not accept me. What determines that is God Himself. So, we offer up our bodies to God as a pleasing sacrifice. It means that losing 15kg will not make God love you more and gaining 15kg will not make God love you less.

We are all familiar with the fork, right? The fork has caused a lot of trouble. And for some people, the fork is their best friend. Listen, losing 20kg will not make God love you more and gaining 20kg is not going to make God love you less. What determines your position with God, is that body offered to God? However, the reality is that some of us need to lose 15 – 20kg and some of us actually need to gain 15 – 20kg. But all of us need to offer our bodies to God now – all of us! This is not a license to eat all you can, after all God loves us anyway. Rom.12:¹ “Offer your bodies as living sacrifices… — which is your spiritual worship” (NIV). Caring for our body is not only pleasing to God; it is something we have been called to do. For us, body care is an issue of worship and discipleship.

Body care is not an issue of likes, or body shape, or looking malnourished. Do you know that some people starve themselves, put their hand into their throat so they can vomit what they have eaten? Body care for the believer is not about looking like Conan the barbarian. It is a worship and a discipleship issue. 1 Cor.6:¹⁹ “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.”

Prayer [song]: My life is not my own. To You I belong. I give myself, I give myself to You. Amen!