Have you ever heard the expression “Your body is a temple”? This saying might surprise you.  You might ask how your body can be a temple. However, the topic of your body being a temple is actually found many times in the Bible. With scripture being both God-ordained and God-breathed, it is true. When He tells you that your body is a temple, it is time to listen to Him. With God being within you, you have every opportunity to start treating your body with the respect it deserves.

Treat Your Body with Respect

You should always remember to treat your body with respect. You don’t have to poison it with drugs or alcohol or any other bad things such as cigarettes. No matter how much peer pressure may fall on you during your college days or at any time in your life, you absolutely do not have to give in to any of the peer pressure to destroy your body. The next time you are faced with the decision of drinking or trying cigarettes or trying any drug, think about the consequences that they can bring your body in the long run.

Consequences of Smoking and Drugs

Some of the consequences that can come along with smoking include lung cancer, coughs, asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) as well as heart disease and strokes. Some of the effects of drugs include drug withdrawal, overdoses, violence both inside and outside the home, as well as having trouble finding a or keeping a job. Drugs can also destroy the person mentally and physically, sometimes for the rest of their lives.

The people closest to you could also suffer if you try drugs and get addicted to them. They will be heartbroken and maybe even angry at you for making the decision to potentially ruin your life. They will do everything within their power to help you if you’d ever chosen to make those decisions, but don’t ever think that your decisions only affect you alone. You are also affecting them because at times they will feel as though they can’t do anything for you. Remember, your family values you more than you ever thought possible.

God Doesn’t Want You to Hurt Your Body

Your family wouldn’t be the only people who would be saddened and hurt by your decision to not treat your body with respect. God also wants you to take care of your body in many different ways. He is saddened as much as your family is if you try drugs because He knows He made you in His image and doesn’t want you to destroy yourself with them.

Listen to Him when He tries to get your attention by telling you not to do something that could destroy your body both mentally and physically. Honor your body as God’s temple by remembering that God is within you from the moment you’re born until the day you get called home. You can also honor Him by eating the right foods, not drinking wine in excess.

It doesn’t mean not enjoying your favorite foods such as ice cream or pasta or pop or anything else that you enjoy. He wants you to enjoy your life including your food and drink, but it just means not binging and enjoying them in excess.

Verses That Say Your Body is a Temple

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; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 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: 16-17 NIV

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12: 1-2 NIV

 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. Philippians 1:20 NIV

Honor God and treat your body as the temple that He made it to be.