I Need a Favor

I need to ask a favor.

Will you take care of my child for a while?

She is very healthy, but it is important to keep her healthy. Feed her wholesome food and make sure she gets plenty of clean water to drink, at least 8 hours of sleep a night and plenty of exercise. Can I entrust her to you?

I imagine that if I actually asked you for that favor you would do your best to fill my requirements, right? I thought so.

The Bible says that you have been bought with a price and that you are a steward, not an owner {“Do you not know that your body is a temple 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 body.”—I Cor. 6:19-20}. God created us to fulfill His purpose for our lives. He equipped us with the necessary tools and gives us access to any additional resources we will need.

Let me jump back to my child I asked you to care for. Would you start feeding her junk food and let her drink soda as soon as I left your house? Would you let her stay up staring at the TV or computer screen all night? Would you let her just lay on the couch all day?  I’m guessing you’re shaking your head NO; maybe you even uttered a verbal No with a huff of disbelief at my questions.

All of us would do our best to follow the directions given us.

We are God’s children—stewards of this body—and yet we disregard His directions for keeping our bodies healthy.

What is His design?

“I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10

Would you say joy, peace, and self-control are included in the abundant life?

Are you happy?

Peaceful?

Do you exercise self-control?

Recently I decided to exercise self-control over one particular food in my diet.

Bread.

I wasn’t abusing the use of bread but I found myself craving it more than I craved spending time with Jesus. My focus was on pleasing my flesh {“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” –Gal. 5:16}, and not on pleasing the owner of my body.

Have you buried the instruction list He gave you under a pile of take-out receipts?  He gave you liberty to consume a wide variety of foods and to enjoy many things. But without exercising self-control our liberty becomes bondage {“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”Gal. 5:1}.  When food becomes bondage it is sin.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I John 1:9

You have been entrusted with the care of your body. What kind of steward are you?

Are you feeding that child junk food, soda and filling her head with garbage? 

 Your physical body should allow you to serve without self-inflicted hindrance {notice I wrote "self-inflicted"}. There are times when God allows us to carry a thorn in our flesh to keep us humble and glorify Him in a special way. But a lack of self-control that leads to an unhealthy body cannot be called a 'thorn in the flesh'. It is simply called sin. 

It has been my sin many times. Is it yours?

We are conquerors in Christ! 

"who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,"--2 Timothy 1:9

It's time to pull out those instruction sheets and start caring for this child of God!

 

{resources for helping you find balance again: 

Made to Crave ~ Lysa TerKurest

Love Hunger ~ Dr's. Minirth, Meier, Hemfelt, Sneed, Hawkins

First Place for Health ~ Carol Lewis and Marcus Brotherton}