1 Corinthians 6:19 "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?"

As I begin or restart, as the case may be, a journey to a healthier body this verse shouts to me.

How do I treat my body?  I am ashamed to admit I do not treat it as a temple or a sanctuary of the Lord.  I try to eat healthy but there are so many temptations and so many excuses for me that it seems hardly a day goes by where I really treated my body well with food.

I also don’t work my body like I need to.  Stretching the muscles and ligaments, strengthening the heart and lungs; these are ways of building the sanctuary that is my body.  I am more apt to sit and read a book or drink another cup of coffee than to go for a brisk walk.

The Lord is working on me, something has to change.  I have been coasting along, it seems, and I feel the challenge to step it up.  I have asked the Lord to help me grow closer to him, to become a better disciple, but that will not happen unless I am willing to move away from my fleshly desires and more deeply into the Spirit.  I ask the Lord to help me again.

Lord,

Please forgive me for trying to do this on my own, or hoping it would just happen without work.  Thank you for the continued whispers that encourage me to seek help in becoming a more holy sanctuary for you.  Help me deny the flesh and live in the Spirit more and more each day.  Amen.