"Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple."
1 Corinthians 3:16-17, ESV
I read a book once that asked the question, right off the top, of what the reader thinks of as being "holy." It was interesting, because my mind flooded immediately with pictures of solemn appearance, reverent dress, priests with pomp and circumstance through lavish pipe organs in grand cathedrals (no, I am not Catholic). I pictured those moments in church where things are so very sobering, and the only thing you think of is who and how you really are in comparison to the Holy Father (that'd be God the Father, folks). And as I looked back down to the page, I was shocked when I saw that we are holy.
Yes, Christian sibling. You. Are. Holy.
You are holy because Christ resides within you, and the Spirit flows through you, and God watches over you. You are made holy through Him who sacrificed everything so that you could have everything. As the verse says above, you are a temple for the Father, the Son and the Spirit. That temple is to be maintained as holy.
So we discussed addiction, and it wreaks havoc on the spirit. But the other side of that is what the addiction, gluttonous want for more of anything, can do to the body. America is chiefly (sadly) famous for its amazingly high rate of obesity. Now here's a knowledge-bomb, friends, and I want to make sure you don't miss it: too much food, especially too much fast food, is likely to cause weight gain. I know, you're like, "that blew my mind," but it's the truth... I promise.
All kidding aside, it's really a serious issue. And if you think back to the days of Christ, there was food when there needed to be food, and there was enough for everyone to eat to be nourished. I doubt the snacking industry was booming then, and I bet there were no fanciful creatures and characters trying to sell this cookie or that chip to overload the arteries and sugar capacity of the individual eating them. Further, as an embalmer, I can tell you without any doubts that obesity definitely causes problems on the physical form. A plethora of conditions exist, too many to list, and all are related to this one portion of gluttony. Too much food, especially of the processed variety, slows your blood flow to key areas, because it's all flowing to the stomach to digest (tryptophan effect), and if your blood slows to the wrong places, you could have a heart attack and die.
Of course, alcohol has an entirely different effect, in that it kills the liver. In too great a quantity, it can also eliminate brain cells, slow down synapses, and all other manner of things. You know, if you drink too much at once, you can actually become septic from the toxins included in the alcohol, and you could just keel over. Yes, friends, alcohol poisoning is real... and it can affect anyone at any age. Again, from the professional realm, please trust that I have backing for that point.
So the liver goes, and then what happens? Well, there's only one liver in the body, so you either have to have it replaced, or you cannot properly process waste through your body. Without that, you will turn into a yellow person, and then a green one (jaundice), and you will get sick and die.
Then there's narcotics, with alcohol of course being among the list. Smoking, prescriptions, illegal drugs, drinking... they all bring up different problems, and they all attack your body from the inside out. Put another way, they all attack and sack the Lord's temple from the inside out. And, because you "needed" that fix or that drink or that high or that Little Debbie snack cake, you invited this upon yourself, Trojan Horse Style, and have no one to blame but you.
If I were still a fan of a certain animated show I watched in my early twenties, I would just say, "Gluttony's bad, mmm-kay." However, even as you may laugh and crack up and gasp that I would watch such a program (we were all young once), you should know that this statement is about as simple as it gets. It is also about as truthful as it gets. God is good; sin is bad. This sin, while masked in things like addiction and the need to fulfill oneself when sad or lonely or upset or in pain or in distress, is still a vicious evil. Blessed siblings, as a dear friend commented to me once about a portion of this study, you must allow God to be your fulfillment, and let the cleaning begin from the inside out, as well. Only He can sustain you, and only He can fulfill you truly.
God bless you all!!!
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