Raise your hand if you ate and/or drank too much over the holidays.

Mid-January always seems to be the time to confess our sins of overindulgence. One friend shared that she couldn’t stop eating the Christmas candy and her scale is confirming it. Another claims to have grown an evil eating-machine-twin that she is now trying to shed. Most of us can truthfully say that we experienced a departure from healthy eating over the holidays. Diets have been abandoned, our exercise bikes are being used as clothes racks, and all of our good intentions fled along with the Thanksgiving turkey.

You can put your hand down now.

In addition, the pandemic’s stay-at-home guidance was coupled with the attack on the nation’s Capitol last week, leaving us welded to our couches. Our days find us mindlessly engaging in anxiety-eating as we consume endless hours of news, sweets, and tweets. No wonder we feel out of sorts and bloated of mind, body, and soul.

Paul’s letter to the Corinthians reminds us that we need to take care of our bodies because they are a gift from God. The Master honors us with our bodies, and Paul calls us to honor God with how we use our bodies. He warns us against becoming a slave to our whims.

1 Corinthians 6 (The Message)

¹² Just because something is technically legal doesn’t mean that it’s spiritually appropriate. If I went around doing whatever I thought I could get by with, I’d be a slave to my whims.

Paul goes on to caution us about stuffing our body with food. I think if he were alive today, he might also warn against stuffing our minds with too much news and social media. None of this is good for us in large quantities.

¹³ 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!

Your body is God’s temple. What you fill it with matters to God. You see, he has a plan to treat your body with the same resurrection power that Jesus received.

^14-15 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 were created with dignity. God gave you a body to honor, as he honors you. What are you indulging in right now that needs to change? What are you putting in your mind, your heart, or your mouth that does not honor God? Is it time to put down the beer and turn off the TV?

Where is God calling you to make changes?

As Paul says, we can’t become slaves to our whims. Yes, things are incredibly difficult right now. But Paul reminds us that’s no excuse. Taking a 30 minute walk will clear things up significantly, or at least get you away from the candy bowl and the television for half an hour. Get up and get moving, and you will feel so much better.

Your body is created with dignity. Treat it as such.