Is Your “Temple” In Ruins? What is the state of your physical body?

“Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins?” Haggai 1:4 (NLT)

I recently read this verse during a mini-study of the book of Haggai. Many years prior to this time in scripture, the Babylonian armies destroyed God’s temple in Jerusalem, and exiled the people. The temple lay in ruins for quite some time. King Cyrus later gave permission for the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild. During the time of Haggai, the people should have been in the process of rebuilding the temple.

However as time went, they had limited resources and started facing opposition. When difficulties came, it discouraged the people, and they gave up. Then instead, they started building and working on their own elaborate homes. Consequently, God sent a message to Haggai as a word for Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah. Haggai was to encourage Zerubbabel and the people to continue the work of rebuilding the temple and to reorder their priorities.

I saw this “temple in ruins” message from a different perspective

Haggai 1:4 stood out to me and kind of convicted me in a different way. I saw this from the perspective of God’s house, or temple, as my body. I saw how the state of my body probably isn’t what it should be in order to be fit to be the house of God. Frequently, I don’t take care of myself like I should…in my eating habits, my activity/exercise, and in getting rest like I should.  Often I put other things as a higher priority, and taking care of myself takes a back seat.

Additionally, I noticed that I sometimes tend to give up on focusing and working on my body when Continue reading →