Haven’t you yet learned that your body is the home of the Holy Spirit God gave you, and that he lives within you? Your own body does not belong to you. For God has bought you with a great price. So use every part of your body to give glory back to God because he owns it. - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

I am not going to be a coward today - I am write here about something just as relevant to me as it is to you. The verses above are a challenge and a slap in the face for many, actually following up with doing something about facing them in my own life, is not going to be easy. Imagine for a moment 2 men standing outside a beautiful house. One turns to the other and says, "This house is mine for 3 reasons: First, I built it, Second, I paid for it, Third, I live in it! These are the 3 reasons as a Christian you can't do just anything you please. God made you, Jesus bought you, the Holy Spirit lives within you.

Most think our faith does not ban almost anything, unlike the The Jewish and Muslim faiths which both ban the eating of pork and have many other prohibitions. Some religions ban eating meat altogether. We read just a few days ago about Peter being shown that Christians didn't have to keep kosher and that the Gentiles diet was acceptable to God. Many Christians drink, smoke, and eat whatever they please. There are those that view drinking and smoking as a vice, but boy can they eat, and many are overweight. Too often I have heard the argument by smokers that there is nothing in the Bible that bans smoking. This is true, it wasn't around in Jesus time. But there are the verses above. Paul was writing about sexual sin, and all true Christian denominations ban sexual immorality. But the thing is these verses apply not just to sexual sin but to smoking, to overeating, to everything we put in our bodies, our minds and how we look after ourselves. What is your vice? What are you putting in you body? Is it a temple, or a garage or worse still a garbage dump?

Christian author Jamie Buckingham once said, "The reason I don't eat and drink certain things is not because it's morally right or wrong, but for an even bigger reason. I'm a temple keeper, and there's no way God will bless every area of my life or endeavors, unless I'm committed to keeping his Temple clean and in tip-top shape." How about you? So what kind of Temple keeper are you? Are you looking after yourself properly? Are you doing things that you know are bad for you? Or not doing the things you should to care for yourself? Do you need to pray about this and make some changes today? Remember when God owns something and lives in it, He protects and blesses it.