So many people suffer from a negative body image. But, consider this truth as a follower of Jesus Christ:
Your body is precious not because of how it looks on the outside, but whom it contains on the inside!
Pause and think about that for a moment.
What if you could learn to see caring for your body as an honor and a privilege, not a burden?
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says:
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
After meditating on this scripture, I looked up the definition of the word ‘glorify’.
Here are synonyms for the word ‘glorify’:
- Praise
- Worship
- Adore
- Admire
- Honor
- Magnify
- Thank
These are actionable words!
How do you glorify God in your body temple?
Think about your typical day. Do you often relate to God in the ways listed?
For example, do you consider how you might honor God with your daily health choices? Adore Him? Thank Him?
Renewing your mind to glorifying God in your body means shifting your focus away from:
- Your body’s flaws
- What you’ve lost
- What you lack
And shifting your focus towards:
- Your body’s daily purpose to glorify God
- Enjoying what you have
- Thanksgiving to God for making you fearfully and wonderfully
Just think of it as like shifting gears in a car! If you find yourself in the wrong gear, make the shift right then.
Now, let’s update that list slightly:
- Praise God
- Worship God
- Adore God
- Admire God
- Honor God
- Magnify God
- Thank God
Questions to Consider
So here are some questions I’d like you to consider:
- How does this list increase your understanding of your body as God’s temple?
- Does your current size stop you from doing these things?
- How can you glorify God within the body you have?
PRAYER:
Lord, I am so thankful for the honor of You dwelling within me! I worship and adore you. Help me to appreciate my body as Your temple, Your dwelling place. Give me wisdom to make wise choices in how I care for Your temple. I desire to serve You with thoughts and acts fitting for the God I serve. Help me to use this temple to impact my world for Jesus positively. I thank You and praise You, in Jesus name. Amen
I’d love to hear your thoughts about this. Please share in the Comments.
Be blessed with health, healing, and wholeness,
Kimberly Taylor
Author of the Take Back Your Temple program
P.S. When it comes to weight loss, do you often know what you should do but have a hard time doing it?
I struggled with this issue on my own weight loss journey, but I discovered that “Nothing is different until you think differently.” – Pastor James MacDonald
The value of the Take Back Your Temple program is that you will learn how to think differently through Biblical truth. You’ll discover how to win the Spiritual and mental battle that often causes us to become inconsistent and get off-track on our weight loss journey.
Join a community of like-minded Christians discovering how to release weight and keep it off.
Click here to learn more about the Take Back Your Temple program
Help me to appreciate my body as Your temple – this is a 40 year issue I have – Praying that my Lord helps my unbelief.
He will, Dee – may you continue to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance and He will strengthen, help, and uphold you!
What an awesome article!!! Thank you. Gods word never returns void!!! This is a great reminder that God loves me just as I am!!! I needed this word today.
Love it, Sandra. We serve a God who has a way of delivering the right word at the right time 🙂
This really made me see difference between my image of my body and my identity. I know my identity in Christ, but somehow I was misled thinking my image, how my body looks, or how I think it looks was incorporated in my identity. So when I mess up and go off track I always condemn the person I am in Christ. That identity cannot change I thank u for all your encouragement you are a super special
Person.
That is great Michelle – I praise God for the breakthrough in your life 🙂
This message is powerful!!! I can already since a shift in my mindset as I listened. I have decided that moving forward, I will no longer consider this body that I live in as mine. From henceforth, it is God’s holy temple. There is a definite shift in how I desire to treat it as I consciously acknowledge that the true and living God is alive and living within it. It is freeing to know that I can go to Him and get His guidance as to how He wants to be glorified in His temple. I praise God for His truth. TBYT is truly an answer to prayer. Thank you for surrendering to God and then reaching back and showing us the way to obtain freedom in Christ also. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed!!!
I appreciate your feedback, Alicia – it truly makes a difference when you know that your body is not important for how it looks but whom it contains. May the Lord continue to bless you more and more as you honor Him and take care of His temple!
I have thought a lot about God’s love and forgiveness. While this is foundational, so is obeying God’s words to the best of my human ability… Loving God with ALL my heart, soul and mind…Since we are the temples of the Holy Spirit, please let me honor that in all ways…including nourishing my body.
Amen, Kealy!
Excellent prayer
Thank you for this inspiration to be better stewards of our bodies. I’m so grateful to God for his patience during my struggle.
I am thankful for His patience too, Sophia. He is good!
A powerful message and I love that you’re offering an audio version! As a blogger myself, I have thought about doing this. What app or program did you use to insert the audio file into your post? Thank you and keep sharing God’s Word and encouraging others to care for their body as a gift! You are reaching so many!!
Hi Jen, thank you for writing! I actually am using the WordPress theme ‘Rise’ from ThriveThemes, which gives you the ability to insert audio into your blog posts. I started to give you a link but found they are working on a new version and aren’t offering the old one anymore. But you can check out their site at http://www.thrivethemes.com. Thanks again for your comment!
THANK YOU FOR CONFORMATION THAT I SHOULD FEAR GOD AND BELIEVE IN HIS PROMISES.NOT FOCUS ON THE TRICKS OF THE ENEMY OF FEAR DOUBT AND WORRY OF THE WORLD VIEW OF ME..ONLY OUR HEAVENLY FATHER..MY BODY IS A TEMPLE FOR OUR FATHER..GODBLESS YOU ALL MY SISTERS.IN CHRIST.
You are welcome, Katrina. I believe when we focus on our daily relationship with God, then what is in us can overcome everything in our circumstances. When God’s love overwhelms us, His perfect love casts out fear.
I loved the article! I am doing some biblical counseling right now and the main verse I am supposed to concentrate on is “whether therefore, you eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God”. I have to really ponder that when I am planning my food and when I am tempted to eat what I shouldn’t. She is also having me study Romans 6. We are dead to sin. We are free! We do not have to participate in this sin any longer. Thank God!
Amen, Terri! To me, it means choosing foods that keep us energetic, strong, healthy and vibrant so we can enjoy our lives and fulfill our calling – and taste good. It’s the best of all worlds. May the Lord bless you!
Yes! That is so true. I want to serve the Lord and be a good testimony, but I can’t do it when I’m involved in overeating. I thought there was no way out of this prison of overeating, but I never really applied Romans 6 to my problem. I really truly want to bring glory to Him by how I eat and He gives us all the help we need!