Throughout my weight loss journey, especially lately, I have really been turning to both the Bible as well as other Christian books to see what God has to say on the issue. Now many of us know the verse talking about our body being a temple ("Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must Honor God with your body." 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NLT), but many of us think of it more in terms of fleeing from sexual immorality or debauchery than we do in terms of losing weight. However, when I read this verse last night it hit me in a different way. If you move to a new place and are trying to find a new church to attend, you may first drive around to see what churches are nearby. Regardless of what denomination you associate with, if you come up to a church that is overgrown with weeds and brush, has holes in the roof, and who's sign is broken, you will likely not be overly excited to even try that church much less attend it on a weekly basis. Like it or not, humans are all, at least a little, superficial. Our appearance (or in my example a church's appearance) is our very first impression. If I was to see that church my first thoughts would probably be; 1) It doesn't look like that church is still open, 2) If it is open the congregation doesn't seem to care much for the church, and 3) People in that church must not want anyone new to come if they can't even donate some time to mow or some money to fix the roof. As judgmental as those thoughts may be, that is what we as a society do. If we don't feel like someone is practicing what they preach we get turned off in a hurry. I think it is the same way with our bodies. We can look down our nose at someone who is greedy or drinks a lot or even someone who is sexually immoral, while at the same time we are filling our plate up for the third time at the church potluck. Now I am not condemning anyone because I would be the first one needing a stone thrown at my head (especially in the church potluck example). I have, however, really been being dealt with during the last couple of weeks about this very issue. I think if we want to be good witnesses for Christ, myself included, we need to take a hard look at the plank in our own eyes rather than the speck of dust in someone else's ("Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" Matthew 7:3 NIV). For me, my main pole that God seems to be dealing with me on, is definitely the issue of treating my body as a temple, and don't get me wrong, weight loss is not all about superficiality, I truly believe it honors God to demonstrate self control as well as take care of what he has given us.
If you are looking for a couple of good books to read on the subject I would definitely recommend "Made to Crave" by Lysa Terkeurst and "If My Body Is A Temple Then I Was A Megachurch" by Scott Davis.
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