Monday Meditation - Week 6

After a busy, food-filled weekend, I have another verse about our bodies.
Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. Romans 12.1 (HCSB)
How can my body to pleasing to God? It has a lot of extra fat, my heart and lungs aren't as efficient as they were designed to be, and it partakes of lots of unholy eating. All in all, I don't think it is pleasing to God the way it is. Sure, I can still, in faith, do things with my body that please God, like make a meal for a sick friend or rock my baby gently to sleep. But I should do more. I should treat my body as the temple God created it to be. First Corinthians 6.19-20 says:
Do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body. (HCSB)
Would I go into a church and smear trash all over its walls? Would I pour soda all into the seats and carpeting? Of course not. So, why would I ingest foods that clog my arteries and raise my blood pressure? God lives in me and I should want a temple for him that is pleasing to him and demonstrates my trust in him.

Also, we shouldn't try to do this alone. As my husband pointed out to me, Paul said "present your bodies as a living sacrifice." The your means he was talking to a group of people and the a means he we should present a single sacrifice. We are to corporately present our bodies to God. If you struggle like me, then find other Christians to walk along side you to help you with your struggle. Or walk along side me... I need help too!

What is your spiritual worship? After reading the last part of Romans 12.1, I thought, oh no, have I been worshiping wrong? Has my worship not been spiritual enough? Then, I went to my handy-dandy footnotes and read that the phrase spiritual worship in this verse can also be translated as reasonable worship or rational service.

That made me feel a little better. So, I don't have to be an Olympian or look like a model in order for my body to be a pleasing sacrifice to God. Those two things are not reasonable for my lifestyle or body type - they would be unreasonable and irrational.

In conclusion, this week I am going to strive to treat my body more like a temple. I will not eat because I am bored or because the food is free.I will exercise more and I will fuel my body with foods that are beneficial to me in a nutritional way. I will present my body as a "living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God."

What about you? What is on your heart this week? I invite you to either write your own post and link to it in the comments, or just leave your thoughts below.

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Also, I'll be beginning a study of Lies Women Believe: And the Truth that Sets Them Free this week and would love to have some of my blogging buddies join me. I will be using this study as a focus for my Monday Meditations and it would be fun to have some online friends contribute as well. If you are interested, leave me a note in the comments and get yourself a copy of the book and workbook. My real-life study starts Friday, September 5th and I'll have my first post up on Monday, September 8th.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMon Sep 01, 06:19:00 PM EDT

    Oh now you tell me! I've been working for years on being able to present my body as a plural, now i find out that single is ok. Nuts, all this hard work for nothing.
    Dad, Grumpy

    ReplyDelete
  2. JenniferWed Sep 03, 09:25:00 PM EDT

    It's never too late to start Grumpy!

    ReplyDelete

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