A Year 4 Transformation: Day 223-Learning to Preserve Your Body as a Temple

Passage of the Day:

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. ¹¹ For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹² If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, ¹³ their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. ¹⁴ If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames. ¹⁶ Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? ¹⁷ If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple, 1 Corinthians 3:10-17.

Reflection:

As a gullible child seeking self-approval from my peers, I found myself doing bad things to please others. I smoked my first and last cigarette at age 6, making the mistake of inhaling nicotine into my lungs. I stole golf balls from a local country club, picking stray shots in the rough before running under the highway along a shallow creek. After moving to Delaware, I began chewing tobacco for 2 years in Junior High School. I attended a high school with a smoking court and played golf against boys that smoked an entire pack over 18 holes. It wasn’t until I entered into a personal relationship with Jesus in 10th grade when I learned that my body was a temple of the Holy Spirit. While I was able to break free from my addiction to nicotine, I still fell short of honoring God, Romans 3:9-12.

Prayerful Action:

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; ²⁰ you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.

Setting Clear Boundaries to Live By:

As I began to grow in my faith, God brought Christian friends into my life who loved the Lord but couldn’t break free of smoking or vaping. At a local Methodist Church in Delaware, I hung out with a friend who was ashamed of his addiction before church, hiding outside in a hidden area between buildings. Although some Christians may be allergic to smoke, I feel like Jesus would love these individuals until conviction and desperation move them to preserve their bodies as a temple of God. While there are self-help options available today in the form of gums to rid addicts from nicotine, the power of prayer is the best way I know to preserve my body as God’s temple.

Song of the Day:

I few years ago I saw a drama team act out the lyrics to Everything. Using the words of Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30, may you learn to come to the feet of Jesus, at the altar, to lay down the burdens in your life too heavy to carry. As you throw off everything that is entangling your soul, may the Holy Spirit teach you how to preserve your body as a temple of God.

by Jay Mankus