The Faith I Live By

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God's Dwelling Place, August 9

A Strong Body Temple

Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6:19. FLB 227.1

By a most beautiful and impressive figure, God's Word shows the regard He places upon our physical organism and the responsibility resting on us to preserve it in the best condition.... FLB 227.2

The body is a temple in which God desires to dwell, ... it must be kept pure, the abiding place of high and noble thoughts.34Education, 200, 201. FLB 227.3

The knowledge that man is to be a temple for God, a habitation for the revealing of His glory, should be the highest incentive to the care and development of our physical powers. Fearfully and wonderfully has the Creator wrought in the human frame, and He bids us make it our study, understand its needs, and act our part in preserving it from harm and defilement.35The Ministry of Healing, 271. FLB 227.4

Our first duty toward God and our fellow beings is that of self-development. Every faculty with which the Creator has endowed us, should be cultivated to the highest degree of perfection, that we may be able to do the greatest amount of good of which we are capable. Hence that time is spent to good account which is used in the establishment and preservation of physical and mental health. We cannot afford to dwarf or cripple any function of body or mind. As surely as we do this we must suffer the consequences.36Counsels on Health, 107. FLB 227.5

The desire of God for every human being is expressed in the words, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” 3 John 2. FLB 227.6

He it is who “forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies.” Psalm 103:3, 4.... FLB 227.7

“Above all things,” God desires us to “be in health”—health of body and of soul. And we are to be workers together with Him for the health of both soul and body.37The Ministry of Healing, 113, 288. FLB 227.8