Have you ever been thinking about your life late at night and started to get really dramatic thoughts?

All of a sudden you’re wondering how you got here, if you’ll ever get the job or the life you really want, or if the hero of that Netflix show will ever get off the island he’s stranded on. You start thinking life cannot go on until you get all these things resolved. Then you fall asleep and wake up the next day thinking, “Eh. It’ll all work out.” All of a sudden, things don’t feel so bad.

This is what happens when we take care of our physical bodies. When we’re well-rested, full of healthy food, and our bodies are getting everything they need, life just feels better. If your emotions are all over the place, you’re stressed all the time, or you’re constantly tempted to make unhealthy decisions, ask yourself a few questions:

Am I getting enough sleep?

Am I exercising?

Am I spending time outside in the sun?

Am I eating healthy?

Am I drinking enough water?

Am I getting enough human contact?

A lot of times we mistake sex as a physical need, and it is not. It can feel that way because our other needs aren’t getting met. Sex releases endorphins in our body like dopamine, oxytocin, and vasopressin. This may sound crazy, but in those moments, you feel like you’re ready to make out with the next person you see, or you want to act out sexually, you need to find another way to get endorphins released. Go for a run, put some music on, eat some really great chocolate, or watch some funny videos on YouTube. All of these things release endorphins.

It’s easy to overlook the physical needs when it feels like something spiritual or emotional is going on, but we are made up of a spirit, soul, and body. You can’t neglect one part without hurting the other parts. Our challenge for you today is to do things to invest in your physical body. Be aware of the food you’re giving yourself. Take time to exercise or be outside. Make sure you’re getting plenty of sleep and plenty of water. Taking care of your body makes a huge difference!

Scripture Reading

‘There’s more to sex than mere skin on skin. Sex is as much spiritual mystery as physical fact. As written in Scripture, “The two become one.” Since we want to become spiritually one with the Master, we must not pursue the kind of sex that avoids commitment and intimacy, leaving us more lonely than ever—the kind of sex that can never “become one.” There is a sense in which sexual sins are different from all others. In sexual sin we violate the sacredness of our own bodies, these bodies that were made for God-given and God-modeled love, for “becoming one” with another. Or didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body’.

1 Corinthians 6:16-20 MSG

Today’s devotional is culled from the Resisting Sexual Temptation plan in the YouVersion Bible App and has been slightly modified