Physical Health as a Spiritual Discipline

God cares about us and He wants to bless us. Not just on a certain area of our life but on every areas of our life.

7 Key Areas in our Life

1. Spiritual

2. Physical

3. Mental

4. Emotional

5. Relational

6. Financial

7. Vocational

As stated above, there are 7 key areas in our life and God wants to bless us in all of those areas. He promised it!

Last month, I shared the 7 Habits that will Improve our Spiritual Health, for this month, we're going to move on the second topic on this series which is our physical health.

3 John 1:2 ESV 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.

God wants us to be physically healthy as we are spiritually healthy. I know that somehow, we are all aware on how to be healthy. We have to eat right, we have to exercise, we have to have enough sleep, and we have to reduce our stress level. Being healthy is not a rocket science.

But in this topic, I want us to focus more on the motivation on why we should be healthy and stay healthy. And it is not about looking good or feeling good but being healthy has an internal implication.

The problem with many Christians is that God told them what He wants them to do with their lives, but they don't have the energy to do it. God wants us to take care of our body not just because that's where we live, but because that's where He live.

He lives in us and He works through us. And anything that He wants us to do, our physical body has to perform it.

So for this topic, we will talk about the importance of our health and body and how it became a spiritual discipline. But before I start, let me just warn you that this topic could be offending to some which I do not intend to but I have to deliver this message as exactly as what God says on His words.

Physical Health as a Spiritual Discipline

We will be focusing on God's words on 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 wherein God is telling us to honor Him with our body. We will talk about each of the verses on the following points that I will talk about.

WHAT GOD SAYS ABOUT OUR BODY

(1) Our body is God's property.

This point is really against what the world preach like the famous slogan 'my body, my choice' but no, it's not. We don't own our body. Everything is created by God and the creator owns it.

God owns it and he only loaned it to us.

Psalm 139:13-14 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

Everything God makes has a purpose. You were made for a purpose so take care of your body that you may able to do your purpose.

(2) God expects us to manage our body.

As I have said, we don't own our body, but we are the manager for it. It is a gift from God that is loaned to us and one day, we are going to stand before God and we are going to give Him an account on how well we took care of our bodies.

1 Corinthians 6:12  “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.

Paul says that we are responsible for the decisions we make about our health and body. As it was written, all things are lawful for us, but not all things are helpful. We can't blame anybody else for the decisions we make.

This life is a test. And one day, He will ask us about what did we do with what we gave us including what did we do with the body He gave us, with everything He gave us. He's watching us on how we manage the gifts He gave us.

(3) Our body will be resurrected after we die.

We're living now as the version 1.0 of ourselves, and one day, we will be resurrected as the v.2.0 of ourselves. Because when we go to heaven, we're still us, everybody we know will recognize us, everybody will know us.

Can you imagine, if there are great things in here, how much greater things that are in the heaven.

1 Corinthians 6:14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.

We're not going to leave our body. God will resurrect it. But that time, it will be version 2.0

(4) Our body is connected to the body of Christ.

1 Corinthians 6:15  Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!

That is why God cares about how we treat our body. It is connected to His body. Jesus gave His body for us and He wants us to honor Him with our body.

How we treat our body is the reflection of the body of Christ. It is not about beauty products, physical workout and all that. It's not about vanity. It is simply about making the most of what we have been given, and honoring God with it. It is about being part of the body if Christ.

(5) The Holy Spirit lives in our body.

1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?

His spirit is inside our body. God's temple is sacred and we are that temple. We are God's dwelling place.

1 Corinthians 6:16-17 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

We are in one spirit with Him and if we are to think this on a daily basis, do you think we'll be able to treat our body differently?

Let's take vandalism of church as an example, it is maddening right? It's not right to vandalize something that is dedicated to the worship of God. But you know what? We also vandalize the temple of God every time we abuse our bodies, every time we deprive ourself with sleep, and every time we don't take care of it. We are vandalizing the temple of God which He wants us to take care of.

(6) Jesus bought our body on the cross.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20  You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

We are not our own. We were bought for a price therefore, we should honor God with our body.

Jesus loves us so much and we are valuable to Him. Jesus died in the cross for us, that is how much He loves us. He came from heaven to earth just to save us and what's He's just asking is to honor Him with our body.

But how so? How can we honor Him with our body?

Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Just merely taking care of our body is an act of worship. Making sure that He can use us for His purposes and His glory.

Managing our physical health is a spiritual discipline and it is a habit that we need to develop.

God have a lot of promises in the bible about our physical health but there is always a premise, and we have to do it God's way.

I know that this message really sounds like counter culture but this is what the bible tells us.

For the challenge, let us think about a small step that we can take for a better physical health. I am not asking for a 360 degrees turn overnight. All I am saying is a one little step that we could take in order for us to be physically healthy.

It can be as simple as drinking the right amount of water daily, eating less junk foods, getting enough rest or having complete hours of sleep.

Let us start with those simple step until we were able to have a completely healthy living. Would you? Can you commit on taking a small step towards a healthier life? Again, it is your choice and you are accountable for all the choices you make.

Again, let me say it again. God wants us to be physically healthy as much as He wants us to be spiritually healthy because we cannot accomplish God's plan for us unless we have the energy to do it.

Let's start working with this second key area of our life... shall we?

:)

By the way, this message is still part of Pastor Rick Warren's series #Transformed. You can watch his actual message in here: