As Believers we should be maturing in wisdom through daily reading of God’s Word and prayer; maturing in favor with God and with people through sharing the Good News, intentional hospitality and service; and we should be maturing in stature by living a life that is worthy of the respect of others and by adopting a healthy lifestyle.
God desires for you to be in good health so that you can glorify God with your body.
God is concerned about our health. Many of the Old Testament laws were designed to keep people free of sickness and disease. In the New Testament Jesus showed His concern for healthy bodies by healing many people.
God is concerned about our physical health but that is a secondary issue to our spiritual health.
Your physical health is either a help or a hindrance to your spiritual health.
It is practical that we learn self-discipline as far as what we take into our body and what we do with it. We must strive to avoid practices that we know are harmful to our bodies and embracing practices that we know are beneficial.
From Creation onward, God’s desire has been for His people to be both spiritually and physically healthy.
Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
3 John 1:2
3 John is a unique book in the New Testament. It is a warm and personal letter written by the aged apostle John to a man named Gaius to warn him about a false teacher and to urge him to continue to serve the Lord faithfully. However, John is not all business. He takes time to offer words of care and concern. He refers to Gaius as his “dear friend” and tells him he prays for his prospering and good health.
John wants more from Gaius than he simply succeed in his ministry. John wants Gaius to be filled with the Spirit of God and to enjoy prosperity and good health. John is concerned for Gaius as his friend and not only as his colleague, but he also celebrates that Gaius is remaining faithful to the truth.
How does your physical health affect your spiritual health?
Just as John wanted Gaius to be physically and spiritually healthy, God desires you to be spiritually and physically healthy as well.
Our bodies are a gift from God, and we should practice good stewardship in caring for them.
16 Do you not know that you[a] are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
A teenager with her first car is a sight to behold. She beams with pride over her new ride. The tires shine and the paint gleams. In the first few weeks with a new car, it can seem at times like that young woman is going to wash the paint right off the car because she cleans it so often.
Our bodies are a gift from God that deserve far more care than a young person gives to their first car. Paul reminds the Corinthians that they are God’s temple, and warns them to take care of God’s temple. When we read that our bodies are a temple of God, we need to remember the Old Testament temple. The temple was not just a place of gathering, it represented the actual presence of God among the children of Israel. God’s spirit lived in the temple.
When you think of your body as the temple of God, does it affect the places where you go or the activities you engage in?
Our bodies are a living sanctuary.
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Paul says our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit, but how did that happen? If the temple in the Old Testament was a building in Jerusalem, how is it possible that Paul could now say that the bodies of believers are a temple of the Holy Spirit? When Jesus died on the cross, something magnificent happened.
Read Matthew’s words below:
51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.
Matthew 27:51
The curtain that Matthew mentions separated the most holy place in the temple from the rest of the temple. The most holy place was where the Ark of the Covenant was kept and where the Spirit of God resided. Only the high priest was allowed to enter into that area of the temple, and even he was only allowed to enter once per year on the Day of Atonement. When Jesus died on the cross, the curtain was torn. The sacrifice for sin was complete and everyone was given access to the Spirit of God.
But, the sacrifice for sin was the greatest sacrifice the world has ever known. Access into God’s presence cost Jesus his life. For the price of Jesus’ life, Christians have been given God’s Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit was given to believers as a gift of God’s presence after Jesus rose from the grave and ascended to heaven. Because you have the Holy Spirit you are enabled to serve the Lord and fulfill his purposes. As a Christian, your body has become the temple of God—the dwelling place of God—and you have a responsibility to care well for it.
A healthy lifestyle requires self-control and discipline.
Potty training is rarely an enjoyable experience for parents. It is difficult to understand why kids don’t want to use the toilet and how in the world they can be comfortable wearing wet clothes. Often what is even worse than the frustration of the actual potty training are the techniques used to try to convince kids to use the facilities. There are rewards and punishments. There are warnings and praises. Then, worst of all, there is Elmo.
Elmo’s Potty Time is a video created to try to help kids learn to use the bathroom (or so they claim, it may have been created to mock parents by making potty training look so simple that a whiny puppet can do it, who knows). For most adults, Elmo is annoying. However, even more annoying is seeing your kid watch Elmo for the 50th time as he excitedly reminds her to use the potty while she wets herself in the middle of the den floor.
It just isn’t fair.
But, kids have to be taught to use the potty because self-control and discipline are not natural talents, they are learned traits. Even as adults, self-control and discipline can be hard. But, if you are going to live a healthy lifestyle, it won’t happen by accident. You have to commit to doing the hard things—spending time with the Lord, getting adequate sleep, eating right, maintaining a healthy level of activity . . .
The Apostle Paul knew the value of discipline. He longed to share the gospel and to live a life honoring the Lord. As a result of his desires to honor Christ, he disciplined his body and brought it under strict control so that he could preach well and not be disqualified.
In what ways can physical self-control and discipline help you to grow spiritually?
Taking care of our physical health impacts every area of our life.
When writing to the church at Corinth, Paul needed to correct some false teaching about proper foods that Christians could eat. There was controversy over whether or not food that had been killed in sacrifice to idols should be eaten.
23 “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up. 24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. 25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 26 For “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” 27 If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. 28 But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— 29 I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience?
1 Corinthians 10:23-29
The answer that Paul gave to the Corinthians was that they should be more concerned with how their actions affected others than anything else. Christians are free to eat and drink whatever pleases them, so long as they don’t cause others to stumble. And then, Paul offers one other caveat: “Whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.”
The great Southern storyteller and comedian, Jerry Clower, was once asked by a group of students, “What is right and wrong?” His answer was a short question, “Can you thank the Good Lord for the opportunity he has given you to do this thing you are considering?” In his own way, Jerry Clower restated the words of Paul.
When we consider what we eat and drink, we need to ask, “Does this food or drink bring glory to God?” Your body is a gift that deserves your attention. How is the food or drink that you are putting into your body bringing glory to God? Are your exercise habits bringing glory to God?
Healthy people have more capacity to serve God.
It is impossible for you to control every aspect of your health. You can’t determine your genes. You can control much of your health. You can determine what you eat and drink, you can determine your level of physical activity, you can decide whether you will smoke or consume alcohol or keep your coffee intake at reasonable levels. However, some things lie beyond your control.
You can’t worry about the things that you cannot control However, you can work to be a faithful stewards of the body God has given you. You can make efforts to practice good health. But, what if you have health issues that are beyond your control? Is there still a place for you in God’s service?
YES!
Joni Eareckson Tada is a great example of how God can work powerfully through a person with a disability. After becoming a quadriplegic in a diving accident at age 17, Joni Eareckson Tada continued to serve the Lord and eventually was given a national platform to share the gospel and to advocate for disability ministry. Joni has not allowed her disability to stop her from serving the Lord, and the Lord has certainly not cast her aside because of her disability.
All Christians have a responsibility to care for their bodies as a temple of the Lord. But, if your temple appears to be damaged, just know that you are God’s temple nonetheless. God still loves you and God can use you. Your body is a temple to the Lord, regardless of how it may look to you, and if you will be faithful with the temple God has given you, he can use you for his glory and your good.
How’s your coffee intake?