You’ve seen them: Wrong Way, Do Not Enter, Caution, and Danger Ahead. Signs that warn of travel hazards. They appear because of previous mistakes and attempt to prevent future ones. Yet people continue to miss or ignore them. Whether they fail to pay attention or believe the rules apply only to others, the signs go unheeded.
So often we do the same on life’s journey. Headlines fairly scream the lifestyle dangers that have become commonplace in our society. Our thoughts quickly go to drugs and alcohol and the immediate threats they pose.
However, the links between obesity and heart disease, arthritis, and a smorgasbord of medical conditions go ignored when we join the drive-thru at our favorite fast-food restaurant. We choose to spend another evening parked on the couch with our minds in neutral, staring at the latest sitcom. Then we justify skipping fifteen to thirty minutes of daily exercise because we don’t have time.
God created our bodies as a temple of the Holy Spirit. We’re not our own, so we shouldn’t overlook our ongoing physical care.
We often suffer from a bad case of spiritual laziness as well. We know the right answers for proper growth—prayer, Bible study, worship, ministry, and missions. Yet our heads fail to notify our hearts and feet.
Hope lies just around the corner. Jesus offers total healing. If we repent, God will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Physical or spiritual, God can take care of it. But we have to make a choice by allowing God to shape us into better citizens of both heaven and earth. As Paul urges in Romans 12:1, let’s offer our bodies as living sacrifices, “holy and pleasing to God” as acts of “true and proper worship.” When we take care of this shell God gave us, we worship.
God offers U-turns. Take one if you need to.
(Photo courtesy of pixabay.)
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Diana Derringer is author of Beyond Bethlehem and Calvary: 12 Dramas for Christmas, Easter, and More! She writes for several publications and enjoys traveling with her husband and serving as a friendship family to international university students. She offers life lessons from English expressions at dianaderringer.com.