Your Body is a Temple of the Lord

“Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst?”

Hi everyone, this is Tammy Becker and welcome to the Almighty God & Gospel Girl Podcast.  This week I have another special podcast for you before we head into the new year, a place that most of us start contemplating resolutions.  I would like to take today and reflect on what the Bible tells us about one of those resolutions that is in the highest of the percentages…our bodies or as the Bible calls them our Temple.

The truth is that your body is God’s temple. In the Old Testament, God dwelled among the Jews in a tent known as the Temple. Eventually, King Solomon built a permanent temple for God where the Jews would come to praise Him.

Before I get started, please visit the corresponding webpage for this podcast as I have some free goodies for you there to start the new year.  The link is in the description or you can simply go to youministries.com

Now let me tell you a short story…you know I love my stories!

Your Body Is a Temple

Sherry struggled with a negative self-image for years. She hated her body and she was always finding some flaw with it. When things didn’t go well, she blamed herself. She often thought things like…

• I didn’t get the job I wanted because I’m not pretty like my sister.
• I’m not married because I’m not as skinny as I could be.
• I didn’t hear back from the editor because I’m not bubbly like my friend.
• I’m not talented enough to reach my dreams.

Can you relate to some of Sherry’s thoughts? Do you struggle with verses like 1 Corinthians 3:16? If you’re not familiar with the passage that I began the podcast with, let me read it again, it says…

 “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst?”

The Temple was holy and scared. It was set apart for worship and it was a beautiful thing to behold. God was extremely detailed in sharing what He wanted the temple to look like, right down to the curtains! (You can read the last half of Exodus for these descriptions.)

You Are a Masterpiece

There’s no doubt about it—the Temple was special to God and the Jews. This means since Paul is calling your body, the Temple, you are special to Him as well. Not just your spirit or your mind, but your body, too!

Consider Paul’s words to the Ephesians. He said, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10 NIV)

The New Living Translation takes it a step further and uses the word, masterpiece to describe Christians. It reads, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

Imagine if you found the Mona Lisa—not a reprint—but the original Mona Lisa painting lying unattended in a dark alley. Now imagine it’s been damaged. It’s ripped and dirty, stained.

Despite the flaws, you’d pick it up and take it home. You’d carefully restore it because even if the world forgot, you would still understand the infinite value and beauty of this work of art.

Now know this – you are God’s Mona Lisa. That’s right. Long before Da Vinci painted a mysterious smiling lady, God was painting your features. He chose the texture of hair you’d have and the color of your eyes. He picked where to put your cheekbones and dotted every freckle onto your body Himself.

When He was done, He stood back and whispered the same thing He always does over a new creation, “It is good.”

But I Don’t Feel like a Masterpiece!

David was born with a rare medical condition. As a result, one of his hands was deformed and shriveled. When he was a kid, his classmates teased him, and no one wanted to be his friend because he was so different looking.

To cope, David became outgoing and funny, a bit of a class clown. He found that if he could make people laugh, they weren’t as scared of him. In fact, David went on to become a comedian full-time after graduating college.

Although David was a Christian, he struggled to believe he was a “masterpiece” or “God’s workmanship”. He didn’t understand verses like Psalm 139:13, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”

Sometimes, he wanted to ask, “God, did you drop a stitch somewhere? Because it sure looks that way to me!”

It’s hard to think of yourself as God’s Temple or masterpiece if you’re disfigured, suffering from an illness, or disabled. In these moments, it’s easy to believe that God may have overlooked you.

Maybe you’re even tempted to think that when He was handing out good things, there just wasn’t enough to go around. Or perhaps you worry that your suffering is due to a sin in your life or the life of a family member.

You’re not alone in asking these hard questions. The Disciples did, too!

Created to Show His Glory

One day while traveling with Jesus, the disciples encountered a blind man. This man had been blind since birth, so he’d never gotten to see his mother’s face, never experienced the breath-taking beauty of a sunset, and never marveled at the enormity of the deep blue sea.

When the disciples saw the man, they made a dangerous assumption. Listen to how they phrased their question to Jesus in John 9:2, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

The disciples thought that because this man was different that there must have been a sin committed by him or someone who loved him.

But Jesus has a radically surprising answer for his followers.

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9:3)

You see that disability, disfigurement, or disease isn’t a punishment from God. Instead, it’s an opportunity to display God’s glory.

He may choose to display His glory by healing you completely or He may choose to display His glory by giving you the grace and strength to endure living in a broken body.

God makes no mistakes. That’s a hard truth. It’s a painful one—that God would choose to allow us to suffer here on earth can leave even the most stoic of Christians aching and raw.

It’s OK to acknowledge these difficult emotions. It’s OK to go to God with your hurts and whisper, “I don’t understand and Papa, I ache from the weight of this suffering.”

Soak in Truth

When you’re struggling with your body and how God created you—whether you were born perfectly healthy or with a condition or disease—it’s important to examine your thinking.

You see, the enemy cannot change how deeply and dearly God loves you. He cannot alter God’s plan for your life or keep God (who is always faithful) from fulfilling that plan.

So, the enemy will try to do the next best thing. He will try to get you to doubt your worth and value and he does that by attacking your thoughts.

Annie F. Downs wrote a book titled Perfectly Unique about the struggles of body image that many pre-teens and teenage girls deal with. In it, Annie shares the story of a mentor who had her write down every negative thing she thought about herself.

Each thought had to go on a single card.

When she was done, Annie read each one aloud to her mentor. Then she would ask her mentor, “Is this true or a lie from the enemy?”

If the things she thought were false (and almost all of them were), her mentor would share a Bible verse that Annie could refute the lie with. Annie wrote the Bible verse on the back of the card that contained the lie. Then she could regularly review these verses and soak in the truth of who God called her to be.

If you hope to gain ground in your struggle with your body image and your self-esteem, understanding what God says about you is vital to overcoming the lies. You may need to reach out to a loving mentor or a Christian counselor who can walk beside you during this season.

Speak Love over Yourself

In addition to storing up God’s promises about you in your heart, you also want to begin speaking love over yourself. This can be a difficult concept if you’ve never seen someone speak well about themselves.

Maybe you lived with a parent who had low self-esteem and constantly talked about their flaws. Perhaps you have a spouse who constantly belittles you and makes you feel worthless.

But consider, this loving yourself is a Biblical commandment.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” – Mark 12:30-31

Many Christians make the mistake of focusing on loving their neighbor. But that ignores the part of the command where Jesus states “as yourself”. Clearly, God wants His children to not only be loving towards but toward themselves as well!

Here are a few loving thoughts you can proclaim over yourself…

• I am fearfully and wonderfully made! (Psalm 139:14)
• God has a plan for me! (Jeremiah 29:11)
• I am God’s masterpiece! (Ephesians 2:10)
• God calls me His child! (John 12:12)
• I am an overcomer! (Romans 8:37)
• God is at work on my behalf! (Romans 8:28)
• I am deeply loved! (1 John 4:16)

Embrace Small Changes

As you begin to see your body through God’s eyes, you may be convicted of the way you’ve been treating yourself.

Maybe God is calling your attention to the fact that you are a stress eater. Perhaps God is showing you that you’re a couch potato. Maybe He’s asking you to give up an unhealthy habit such as smoking cigarettes or drinking to the point of blacking out.

When God reveals these things to you, change may at first feel overwhelming and scary. After all, you may have been engaging in this habit for years or even decades and the thought of doing something different sounds hard.

But remember that you have the strength of Christ on your side. That’s what Paul meant when he said, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13)

You don’t have to make big sweeping changes all at once in your life. Take it slow and focus on replacing one bad habit or starting a new healthy habit.

When Tony wanted to get his stress eating under control, he started tracking when he did most of it. He discovered that he was more likely to stress eat late after his day shift at the hospital.

To keep himself away from the drive-thru, he made a standing appointment with a good buddy of his. Each evening, the two friends would immediately leave work and do something active like playing basketball at the local Y or hiking a mountain trail nearby.

Once Tony stopped stress eating, he focused on drinking more water so he could stay hydrated and focused throughout the day. By building on little habits, Tony started to celebrate his body and the amazing God who created it.

One Step Forward…Fifteen Backward

God has opened your eyes to a bad habit. You’re determined to overcome it and start being healthier. You’re excited and pumped up. You do well for a few hours or a few days then it happens.

You mess up.

Maybe you binged on a whole bag of cookies. Perhaps you stopped exercising regularly. Maybe you got black out drunk again.

Now, the enemy is taunting you. He’s telling you that you’re a failure and you can’t change. That you’ll never overcome your old habits.

But consider these words from Proverbs 24:16…

“The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.” (NLT)

When a toddler falls down, you don’t assume he’s not meant to walk. Nor do you think it means that he’s a failure or dumb. You understand that he’s simply learning and that part of learning means failing sometimes.

Just like a good father is patient and lifts up the toddler who has fallen, God does the same thing when you fail. In Psalm 145:14, David proclaims, “The LORD helps the fallen and lifts those bent beneath their loads.” (NLT)

But more than that, you have the assurance that God is faithful, even when you are not. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:9

God will give you a beautiful new beginning at any moment in time. You need only ask Him for it.

You Are Loved Right Now

Some Christians make the mistake of thinking that if they improve their lives or their bodies in some way, that God will love them more.

While it is good to take care of yourself mentally, physically, and emotionally, it has no bearing on how much God loves you. He will not look at you and say, “Oh, Daniel finally got his act together. That guy is worthy now!”

The truth is you make God happy just as you are, right now. You bring joy to Him simply because you are His child.

Consider the words in Zephaniah 3:17…

“For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” (NLT)

You are a masterpiece, God’s unique creation. He loves every detail of your body. From the shape of your nose to the thickness of your thighs to the sound of your laugh. You delight Him, just the way you are!

Don’t forget to go to the webpage at youministries.com I have some gifts for you.  And get excited for our brand new season and year as we will dive into the book of Revelation together.  A deep dive, slowly uncovering all the mysteries and wonders that await us there.  This is Tammy Becker, have a blessed week, see you next time, bye!