Right Steps In A Good Direction

"Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?"
~1 Corinthians 3:16

My daughter is trying to quit smoking. After a few attempts using patches and gum, she's now using a prescription medication. Just a few days into this new lifestyle, she came to my house on her lunch break, "Mom, I need food with sugar in it!" She is in the early stages of nicotine withdrawal, which, as a substance abuse counselor, I've seen a lot of. Nicotine is an addictive substance like any other drug but fortunately, it's water soluble and will wash out of the body in 7-10 days. My daughter has begun taking steps in a really good direction.

We all need to care for our bodies, after all, it does have to last a lifetime, but we don't always think of some things that we do as hurting our bodies. We know smoking causes cancer but because it takes years before the damage is done, we don't always consider the consequences. The same is true of another legal drug, alcohol. While the immediate effects are well known, and the immediate dangers of driving under the influence can be swift and deadly, we don't always consider the long term affect on our body. Food can also have long term, ill effects on us, yet more than 2 out of 3 adults are considered overweight or obese. 

As Christians, we are to honor God with our bodies. 1 Corinthians 10:31 instructs us, "whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." In Romans 12:1 we are to offer our "bodies as a living sacrifice, pleasing to God." Our physical health is important to God, and being aware of what we put into it, should be important to us. One reason is that any time something in our lives becomes an obsession, it is replacing God. Another reason is, anything we desire or think we can't live without, is giving the devil a foothold in our lives.

It may be difficult to think of food, your job, your friends, or anything else as a foothold for the devil but he's sneaky like that. He will use anything to draw your attention from the Lord. It's not the huge, overt actions that do us in, it's the subtle, underhanded things that draw us bit by bit in the wrong direction.

"The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,  but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness (Matthew 6:22-23)!"

Read
Genesis 46:10-12
1 Chronicles 2:18-55

A Year of Blessings by Marie McGaha
©2018