Time For a Checkup week 3

12 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 13 Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19 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? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body^[b] and in your spirit, which are God's.

We do not usually appreciate our physical health until we lose it. It may only be the aches, nausea and general discomfort of the flu that causes us to stop and think how wonderful physical health is. Or it may be a chornic, decilitating condition that permanently alters our lives, and causes us to forget what phusical wholeness ever felt like. We also tend to forget that there can be a connection between our physical and spiritual health. GOd has given us wonderful bodies with amazing capabilities, andit is part of our spiritual responsibility to keep them in good condition to the best of our ability. As His followers, we need to see what it means to consider the phusical body as 'a sancturay of the Holy Spirit'.

The people say "everything is permissible"; but God says "but not everything is helpful". Yes, through the grace of God, we are no longer under the law, but that does NOT mean that we can do whatever we want with no consequence. The same sexual immorality that plagues us today was a problem in the church at Corinth. Paul wrote to them on glorifying God in their bodies. But not just sexually, but in all ways. Many people were seeking self-gratification in many ways, including food, drink and sex. Paul speaks to us today concerning these same matters. What we do with our bodies affects our spiritual as well as our physical health. Having the discipline to stick to healthy habits is a challenge for most of us. The long-term goal of health is often put aside for pleasures of the moment. Paul also reminds us that our bodies don't belong to us. They were bought at a (very high) price. The Holy Spirit lives in us. We are His sanctuary, His temple. So while it may be true that 'all things are legal' it is also true that 'not all things are profitable (or good for us)'. And anything we do that damages our body is wrong.