Deuteronomy 5:7-10 You shall have no other gods before Me or besides Me. You shall not make for yourself (to worship) a graven image or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, and showing mercy and steadfast love to thousands and to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
The very first commandment God gave Moses in the desert was to not have any other gods except for the one true living God. He also said to not make for ourselves any graven image to worship nor should you bow down and serve them.
Strong’s Concordance defines graven images as an idol or image. We live in a world that violates the first commandment every minute of every day. For example, what’s the first thing we look at in the morning? Our Instagram or Facebook account? Our email? Do we turn on TV or the radio before we’ve even thought about sitting down to spend time with God? And what about what we see on our social media platforms, magazines, TV? We seem to idolize anyone who has a flat stomach, thin thighs, big muscles, etc. There is a reason why supermodels are speaking out against their bodies being airbrushed to get rid of all the “blemishes” and why actresses are giving scathing retorts to body shamers. Sadly we, as a society, worship everything but God.
Regarding our health and without even realizing it, we get sucked into idolizing the same thing and we justify it by quoting 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 that says our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit and we should honor God with our bodies. Conversely, we skip working on our relationship with God, which gives us the proper perspective and should be the first step to health. We instead go straight to working on our bodies and hoping God approves.
The other end of the spectrum is that we “honor God” by eating food causing us to be riddled with the eff
ects of obesity and inactivity. I’ve heard it before, “God made food for us to enjoy and I’m enjoying it! That’s totally honoring God!” Again, who or what is your idol?
God yearns to help you be healthy, but not at the expense of losing out on a relationship with Him. He wants to and is waiting to show you mercy and steadfast love for you and a thousand generations after you, but you must love Him and keep His commandments first. It’s amazing what happens when you are in a growing relationship with God. You no longer care about the idols the world says we have to look like. You instead care about taking care of the gifts God has given you – the gift of life, health, family, etc. He helps give you a healthy mindset and perspective.
Prayer starter: Dear Heavenly Father, please forgive me for falling into the world’s mindset and not making you a priority in every area of my life. God please change my thinking to care about what You think! My sole purpose is to bring honor and glory to You. Thank you Lord!