The Body Temple

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Besides the spiritual implications of this verse, we understand that we are to care for our bodies, since God gives them to us for his glorious purposes. They ultimately belong to him.

It is also important to note Paul’s statement in Ephesians 5:29-30 (ESV) that says, “For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church….” He makes the implicit assumption that we will naturally want to take care of our physical bodies.

Unfortunately, we are often guilty of taking our bodies for granted, abusing and/or neglecting them in various ways. This ought not to be so. Many of us fail to properly nourish our bodies through a healthy and well-balanced diet. We don’t take the time or effort to exercise like we should. Some people abuse their bodies through overeating, excessive consumption of alcohol, illicit drug usage, and even intentional self-harm.

Our bodies are intended to be holy instruments for God’s special usage. We are also supposed to enjoy our bodies and their remarkable functional capacities.

Our bodies are indeed amazing creations. Your nose has the capability of remembering 50,000 different scents. Your taste buds are replaced every 10 days. Your body sheds about 600,000 particles of skin every hour. Your blood vessels could circle the globe that is 100,000miles of blood vessels in an adult human body.

While awake, the human brain produces enough electricity to power a light bulb. Human bones are ounce for ounce stronger than steel, though they are composed of 31 percent water. The human eye can distinguish about 10 million different colours. If uncoiled, the DNA in all the cells in your body would stretch 10 billion miles.

Your brain uses 20 percent of the total oxygen and blood in your body. In a lifetime, your brain’s long-term memory can hold as many as 1 quadrillion (1 million billion) separate bits of information.

Your heart beats about 100,000 times a day pumping 1.5 million barrels of blood during your lifetime, enough to fill 200 train tank cars. When you take one step you are using up to 200muscles. These are just small fraction of the wonders of the human body.

Yes, your body is an amazing organism. It was made by and belongs to God. Therefore, take good care of it and use it for God’s purposes.

If you don’t take care of your body- your temple – where are you going to live?