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

Recently I introduced myself to an old friend which resides in my “Man Cave” by the name of “treadmill”. Yes, that contraption that when first purchased we are so excited to be with each day until eventually after a few weeks,  we lose our desire to spend time with, get too busy, and quite honestly just become lazy in our exercise routine. We rationalize with thoughts like “I’ll get started back tomorrow” or “I’m really not in that bad of shape” and succumb to just sitting in front of the television eating junk food, staring at our computer screens, cell phones and just “vegging out”. Treadmills have many health benefits when regularly used for the participant though. Some of which can be but not limited to:

• Reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke
• Reduces body fat
• Reduces high cholesterol
• Helps to our control body weight

Have you ever considered that treadmills and the Bible have some similar purposes in common? For instance, treadmills have built-in devices and equipment that keep track of things such as heart-rate, pulse-rate, fat-burn loss, etc. All of these help inform or alarm us of our condition while on the treadmill. If our heart or pulse rate is too high, the machine will alarm us that we are in danger and should slow the machine or work-out down. Similarly, the Bible when read, believed and applied helps keep our spirit, heart and mind in good condition. James 1:23-25 tell us that “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.” God’s word acts as a “spiritual treadmill” if you will that helps monitor our spirit, our heart and our mind’s condition. We most likely will never know that either of these are “out of shape” or are in need of a “spiritual workout” until we are exposed to God’s word and see our spiritual life revealed and reflected back to us.

In today’s opening scripture, God’s word told us that as believers, our bodies do not belong to us but to God. When He sent Jesus to the earth to die for our sins on the cross, Christ’s blood purchased or redeemed us back to God. In I Corinthians 10:31, the apostle Paul wrote “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” We should always strive to do our very best to keep our bodies, God’s temples,  in the best shape possible. This is not always easy to do as mentioned earlier for it can become routine to make excuses such as not having enough time, other obligations to keep, etc. However, we should make every opportunity to commit in becoming the people God has called us to be and this includes keeping our bodies, our soul and our spirit fit. This also includes eating healthy, life giving foods and nutrients as much as possible. I know…I know…I hit a nerve there but by doing so, we will be honoring God as well as being able to adequately do the work He has called us to do without giving out, giving up and strongly finish the race He has called us to run. Who’s with me?