Ready? Here it comes:
“Scripture is full of the symbolism between the original temple in the old covenant and the new temple – our bodies – under the new covenant.
It’s a stunning word picture:
The holy of holies where the presence of God dwelt, housed in the ark of the covenant behind a large curtain, the innermost sanctuary of the temple.
Only the high priest – and only once a year – could enter to offer a sacrifice of atonement for the nation’s sins. And this was no simple matter of shoving the curtain aside and sprinkling a little blood around. This sacrifice was so sacred, God gave over 100 directives on how it had to be done…
…if the worship was tainted, the high priest would be struck instantly dead, and the other priests would know by the silence of the bells [on the hem of his robe].
God is holy.
So very holy.
That God could even be close to sinful mankind is astonishing, which is why it was so complicated to bring worship that wouldn’t offend His perfection.
He is still that holy.
Which brings us to Jesus.
Mark 15:37 – 38 says:
‘With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.
The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.’
How did Jesus’ sacrifice forever change worship from how it had been since its inception?
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 says:
‘Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.”
Jesus changed the parameters of the temple, but do you think He changed its sanctity? Are our bodies more or less sacred?
How do you think God’s immense concern over every detail of the original temple translates to how He wants us to manage our bodies, the new temple?
We are the royal priesthood, bearers of the holy place within.
The veil is torn.
We are sacred, hallowed through Jesus.
It’s almost too beautiful to handle.
Do we treat our bodies like the vessels of the very presence of the great I AM?
Is there a remnant of respect and reverence for these bodies, and these plants and animals consecrated for our sustenance?
How would God find you treating your body and your family’s bodies today? In what ways would He commend your choices? What concerns might He have?
This is not about being skinny…we’ve disconnected entirely from the correct objective:
health
This is my one life. God chose these few years for my turn on the earth. This is it.
I’m counting on these lungs to tell of His goodness, to sing my worship, to mother my children, to speak good news.
These hands have much work to do.
This is the vessel God gave me to tell His story, to love His people, to champion His kingdom.
He gave us best practices in Scripture and said,
‘Put these things in your heart,
put these truths in your mind,
put these thing in your mouth…
Trust Me.'”
Yes, I believe I should be purchasing copyrights or something at this point! Forgive me, Jen!!
How do you feel? Beat up? I so hope not.
Convicted? Hopeful? Confused? Annoyed? Me too.
Listen, there are so many people doing this well. We are not always. Correction: we are not usually.
A blogger I read follows the 80/20 rule. 80% of the time, they are trying to eat real, whole foods. Avoiding highly processed stuff. Eating more vegetables than is typical in the average American diet.
The other 20% of the time?
That’s called life.
Birthday parties, a rushed evening that turns into eating out, date nights, traveling, the holiday season.
Like she said, I don’t want a zucchini cake on my birthday! I don’t want my kids to never know what a Cheeto tastes like or to turn down a Ring Pop when offered.
Besides if we got this right 100% of the time, think of what snots we could be, looking down our noses at others.
Bleh. That almost makes me shiver more than the bad food choices I tend to make.
But there are some things we can do, a little at a time:
Maybe we could reorient our time management and resolve to cook more.
We can hop on Pinterest or Google and search for more recipes that call for less processed stuff. (As Jen says, “This takes planning, diligence…We can do this. People lived like this for thousands of years.”)
We could make treats just that: a treat. Not something to always be indulged in (ahem to myself).
We can look for Farmer’s Markets to help support the little guys and spend our money on local and organic.
We can go through our pantries and get rid of toxic stuff. (Says Jen: “Think of this as worship, because it is. You are respecting God, His creation, and the food system He kindly put in place to nourish us.”)
We can research our oft-patronized restaurants and find out what is healthy on their menu. If nothing, we can make a switch.
We can choose real butter over highly-processed margarine.
We can grind wheat (super easy in a coffee grinder) and dump it in our recipes instead of the processed, bleached kind.
We can reorient our budget to fit in meat that doesn’t have all the added junk and was raised with a conscience – or we can do more meatless meals. (My friend has a trick for this: if she makes fresh bread or rolls, her man doesn’t complain about the lack of meat as much!)
We can make popcorn on the stove or in a popcorn popper (with coconut oil instead of processed oil!) instead of the microwave kind. Additional time needed? Maybe 5 minutes.
Hate veggies? Sneak them in smoothies!
Jump on the Aldi bandwagon: Seriously, I’m very impressed with the lack of zillions of ingredients on their labels. Plus, we’re watching food coloring since we really think it affects our boys’ tantrums – and most of their stuff doesn’t have any. Plus they now have an affordable organic line. Plus they’re super cheap. (Also, those of us on tighter budgets can stick to the Clean 15 from Aldi if we can’t afford organic.)
Phase out extra sugar or artificial sweeteners by using real maple syrup or honey. (Less need for real or fake sugar when trees and bees got us covered.)
One more from Jen: “Need help getting over yourself in this department? Spend some time with the truly hungry. Volunteer at your local food bank, a homeless shelter/kitchen at mealtime, pack a bunch of sandwiches and take them to folks on street corners.”
Listen to me: we are not giving up Chick-fil-a forever any time soon! We had nachos for dinner last night. We buy frosted shredded wheat. Our yogurt has added sugar.
Don’t look to us for the ideal here. But we’re trying to be more conscious.
How are you feeling?