Freedom in the Temple
It’s true that our freedom allows us to do anything, but that doesn’t mean that everything we do is good for us. I’m free to do as I choose, but I choose to never be enslaved to anything. I Corinthians 6:12 (The Passion Translation, TPT)
In Acts 11:5-10, Peter has a vision from God about all sorts of food being clean that were previously declared off-limits by God. It was showing Peter that the Lord wanted to make salvation available to the Gentiles, but it also released men to eat foods that were previously not allowed by the law.
However, Paul tells us in I Corinthians 6 that while all things are permissible, they are not all beneficial. According to him, we are not forbidden to eat certain foods, but not all foods are good for us. We have freedom, but it needs to be balanced by wisdom and the desire to honor God with our bodies.
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. I Corinthians 6:19-20 (New Living Translation, NLT)
Freedom is a wonderful thing if we use it as intended- to glorify God. When we take all sorts of bad foods, alcohol, and other things into our bodies, we abuse the temple of the Holy Spirit and it does not bring glory and honor to the Lord. And it harms our health, making it difficult to run the race God has set before us. Then we are not free, but are bound by sickness and disease.
If we want to honor God with our lives, that also means we must treat our bodies with respect, not constantly eating wrong foods, like processed foods, sugar, and other things that are bad for us. And we must use our bodies in wholesome activites, not activities that are immoral or otherwise harmful. For example, feasting on violent tv shows, songs with sexual lyrics, and other similar things, allows wrong things to enter your body and soul, and that defiles it. God tells us to turn away from these things in order to protect us and protect our physical, mental, and emotional health. Such things get inside you and stay with you, just like the bad ingredients of wrong foods do. God expects us to be watchful over what we allow to get in us.
So, while all things are indeed permissible as food, we must be diligent to eat well to preserve our lives and to have the good health to do what the Lord has put us here to do. And we have to be on guard to keep evil influences out as well. When we take care of the temple, the Lord is pleased and we are truly free.
