Heaven, My Body, Food and Exercise

(Yes, the following scriptures are the same as yesterday, but that's because they are so important, so I really, really hope that you reread them!)

Pray like this:  ‘Our Father in Heaven . . . . ’    Matthew 6:9
   
“It's resurrection, resurrection, always resurrection, (being clothed with renewed body) that undergirds what I do and say, the way I live. If there's no resurrection, "We eat, we drink, the next day we die," and that's all there is to it. I Corinthians 15:32(MSG)
 
“You know the old saying, 'First you eat to live, and then you live to eat'? Well, it may be true that the body is only a temporary thing, but that's no excuse for stuffing your body with food, or indulging it with sex. Since the Master honors you with a body, honor him with your body! 

God honored the Master's body by raising it from the grave. He'll treat yours with the same resurrection power. Until that time, remember that your bodies are created with the same dignity as the Master's body. You wouldn't take the Master's body off to a whorehouse, would you? I should hope not.  

There's more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact. As written in Scripture, "The two become one."   Since we want to become spiritually one with the Master, we must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving us more lonely than ever—the kind of sex that can never "become one." 

There is a sense in which sexual sins are different from all others. In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our own bodies, these bodies that were made for God-given and God-modeled love, for "becoming one" with another. Or didn't you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don't you see that you can't live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you.

God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.
I Corinthians 6:13-20(MSG) 

Reflection

Everything I decide to do with my body is a spiritual decision which is either preparing me for my next life, first temporarily in heaven, and finally embodied in the New Creation.

Live today in a way that anticipates your tomorrow. If tomorrow (my life in the resurrection) is intended to be full of vitality, energy, intelligence and joy in a re-created and new body, then I should live and act now in a way that prepares for that. That means I should eat right, eat what brings health, not sloth. I should exercise so that my body is alert, able to connect with others and God and creation in a way that an unhealthy body cannot.

Perhaps an image can help. When I prepare for a career, that future career changes my present entirely. I study, train, learn, behave, arrange my schedule all around the future for which I am preparing. When I have a vacation coming up, I look forward to it, slim down, get healthy, plan my itinerary . . ..the future event reorients how I live today.

Our lives on this planet in these bodies are brief. The last 40 years of my life have lasted no longer than the flicker of a candle. They are temporary. Their purpose is preparation for eternity.  

“So, if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it.  
Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.  
Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life.  
When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Colossians 3:1-4(MSG)

Prayer

“Father, I need your help to treat my body, not as a commodity to be consumed, used, and one day be discarded, rather as a gift from and dwelling place of you. Please give me a spirit of self discipline which is undergirded by the understanding that my physical health enhances my ability to connect with you and others. In Christ’s Name. Amen”