My Body? His Body.

I know that there are certain things that come into my life that live on an "if-y" line. I believe that food is one of them. In this department, I will cave and bend in ways that I fight viciously in most other areas. Knowing that I struggle with food and my love of food, I will walk into a Dunkin Donuts like a recovering alcoholic would walk into a bar...eyes wide open with the possibilities!

Why? Why would I do that to myself?

Temptations are all around me. With four kids and a husband that are all fit and healthy (partly thanks to the Keeper of all Snacks and Dinners), I allow them to purchase certain luxury items for the pantry that are like ticking time bombs for me....just sitting there...eying me...like it can talk and draw me in like that.....

frustrating that cookies can talk to me like that....sigh.

BUT, I have good news! I don't have to fall into temptation! Why? Because I have friends out there that are praying for me and I have God's Word to feed me when it's a craving more than hunger that is driving me to the kitchen.

Satan has rendered me useless because he has drawn my eye and persuaded sme that what I have done to my body is a lesser sin than that of others, if it's even a sin at all?? Well, let's hold it up against what the Bible says about my body...

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (New International Version)

¹⁹Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

God doesn't own just the spiritual side of me. He owns the entire thing, including the physical body that in which my spirit resides. To love God and to be grateful is to love everything that He has given to me and to take care of what He has put me in charge of. That is why I am very careful about what I feed to my children and how much I allow them to eat and not to eat. I am responsible for them. I don't allow them to watch TV or play computer all day because I want them to enjoy the wind in their face and the sun on their shoulders. I know that God has given me the task of taking care of those little bodies so that one day they can be effective for His ministry.

So, how much sense does it make that I have allowed my body to give in to selfish desires that are less than what God would have as His best for me?

To love and to trust God is to know that He has made a way out of temptations that are all around me so that I can live in His best for me.

1 Corinthians 10:13 (New International Version)

¹³No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

He has given me this vessel. It belongs to Him. When I gave Him my soul, He gave me His forever, and now I need to honor Him with all that I am, including my physical body. No more excuses. I can do this....through Him.

This is God's best for me.