Every day is a new day. Every day we get a clean slate that we can use to start over and to start anew. Today, things can change. People make a lot of resolutions each year to start on a fitness routine and then usually don’t keep their resolutions. What should our perspective as Christians be about our bodies? God cares about your body. It matters how you treat it and how you take care of it. Eating itself can be an act of worship. It’s a stewardship issue how we take care of the body that God gave to us. Do the things to your body that don’t come naturally. Control your body instead of being controlled by your body. Discipline and training reflect back on God. Take care of your body so that when you share your message with others, it will glorify God. Why does your body matter to God?
1) Because God created our body. Unlike when God created the animals, birds, fish and insects, when He created us, He got personally involved. He got his hands dirty and blew his own breath into the dirt to create us. God put us here on purpose. He created us with forethought and intentionality. Health is so important. Images in the media are unreal and unattainable. The scary part is that teenagers buy into those images that are computer-enhanced, air-brushed and made-over. Rather than become weight and look obsessed, take care of your health to honor the Lord. Parents, tell your children that God gave them the body they’re supposed to have and that God doesn’t make mistakes. Maybe we’re not supposed to be a size zero but keep the body you have healthy and fill it with only what it needs. Don’t over-indulge.
2) Because your body is the temple of the Lord. The Holy Spirit lives inside of you. The reverence and awe you feel when you walk into a beautiful church is exactly the same respect and awe you should have for your body. What you do with your body is reflected in your spirit and you can’t separate the two. God wants to protect you emotionally and physically and that’s why He asks us to only have sex within the sanctuary of marriage Emotionally, we have the safety and love of our spouses for that act of intimacy. Physically, God wants to protect us from diseases which is why He asks us to be monogamous. Parents, speak to your children and tell them to honor God with their bodies. God says sex should occur only between one man and one woman who are married for life.
3) Because your body serves God. We don’t worship our body. We use our body for worship. We can’t carry out the great Commandments without our bodies. We use our voices to encourage others, to sing, and to tell of goodness. We use our hands to lift up, to serve and to help. God wants you to keep your body healthy so you can continue to do His works. Exercise, rest, healthy eating and watching your cholesterol, blood sugar and high blood pressure will keep your body strong enough to fulfill God’s purpose. Jesus assumes that you will carry on and do his good works but you have to have a strong, healthy body to do it. We need to be a people who not only read God’s word but who live God’s word. Moderation and control will help us attain this goal.
Accept Jesus as your life manager and Savior. View your body as a gift from God. Honor God in what you eat and drink. Reject the ridiculous images of beauty presented to me by pop culture.