Saturday Scripture Speaks - All for the Glory of God

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV)

To glorify God means to give Him the honor that is due Him. This verse is becoming more and more meaningful to me as I grow older and celebrate more spiritual birthdays. So many things come at me - bad food, electronics (making physical exercise nearly obsolete), general busyness of life, stress, etc. that God can sometimes get "blocked out". 

Stormie Omartian's 7 Steps to Greater Health are peaceful living, pure food, proper exercise, plenty of water, prayer and fasting, periods of fresh air and sunshine, and perfect rest. They are the seven essential "p's", if you will.

If I truly desire to glorify God with my life, I will at least try to do these things.

1. If I have peaceful living, I'm glorifying the Lord by trusting Him with everything life throws at me.
2. If I eat only pure, natural foods, I am considering my body to be the temple of the Holy Spirit, the place where God dwells. I know that the food God made, not the overly processed junk that man makes, is what He intended for me to use for nourishment. That shows me, and others, that I am a good steward of His temple.
3. Proper exercise is necessary to care for this physical temple. It means that I'm not going to let the temple fall into disrepair because of improper upkeep.
4. Plenty of water - ah, that's often problematic for me. Sometimes I simply forget to eat. Yet, God's Word says, "whether your eat or drink ...". Drink water for God's glory. Period.
5. Prayer and fasting is something I don't do quite enough, but I'm working on it. The first time I fasted, I didn't couple it with prayer. A couple of weeks ago, I did a 24 hour fast and prayed lots. What a difference! A praying person, especially while denying herself, has power! "There's life saving power in the blood of the Lamb!" (Lewis E. Jones) God is glorified when His power is revealed in the life of the believer.
6. Periods of fresh air and sunshine are SO very important to our health, both physical and mental, that doctors are now finding a link between a lack of vitamin D (manufactured by the sun) and diseases like MS and Rheumatoid Arthritis. We tend to get depressed when we are deprived of time in the sun. How does a grumpy, sick person glorify his Creator? He can't.
7. Perfect rest sort of goes hand in hand with fresh air and sunshine, in my opinion. If we lack sleep, stress wears down our physical bodies and our minds. Sleep - restful sleep - renews us. God gave us a model to follow when He rested on the seventh day of Creation. He was saying, "Take note. This is important!" Obeying God (after all, resting on the Sabbath is the 4th commandment) gives Him the glory and honor He is due.

Whew. I have a lot of work to do! And since work honors God as well (He surely doesn't desire for us to be lazy or fail to provide for our families), I'm okay with it.