By Megan Williams
Does God care about our fitness? Are we seeking him and giving him honor by what we eat and what we do? Most Christian love to serve others, fellowship, and live a God filled life with Jesus in the center of all. But there’s more!
Let’s take it a step further and consider something else; we are “fearfully and wonderfully made…” (Psalm 139:14).
We are called to honor him by how we treat our bodies, both with the food we eat and the movement we create, how do we handle the struggle of gluttony and slothfulness? There’s a reason these terms are in the Bible, God knows our internal battles.
Our bodies are temples; God made the earth and all that was in it, including everything from the chickens to the apple trees to the beautiful golden threads of whole wheat, all to nourish us. God did not sit back and say “Hmmm… On the 8th day I’ll create McDonald's. Let them fill their bodies with processed junk full of a salt, sugar, and trans fat so that they, my beautiful creations, can eat a food-like substance.”
We honor him by eating a variety of fresh whole foods that He made just for us!
And did He not bless us with a body that moves, arms, legs, hands and feet. How do you spend your free time? It doesn’t take much to go for a 30 minute walk, YouTube an at-home workout, or call a friend and meet them at the gym. We have hundreds of apps at our fingertips, so we don’t have an excuse…just get up and go do something!
Don’t allow free will to cloud your choices when it comes to health. Treating our bodies like a temple goes beyond avoiding certain indulgences, it also includes filling it up with God’s goodness.
And as a secondary blessing to all this healthy food and exercise, we will feel better, have more energy and His light will shine even brighter in us.
So yes we do honor God by treating our bodies, our temples by eating whole foods and getting exercise. So today is the day, click out of my article and go move!
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:14)
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).
Megan Williams is a mother of 3 with a B. S. in therapeutic recreation and currently works part time as a group fitness instructor. Her article was first posted at www.journey-ToGetHer.com.
