Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?
1 CORINTHIANS 3:16
How amazing that God chose the human body as the vessel that would contain his Spirit! What a profound mystery! If our bodies are that important to God, they should be important to us too — important enough for us to take good care of them. We can have the best spiritual intentions but if our bodies cannot function to their full capacity, we will inadvertently cut short our destinies.
The apostle Paul was strongly against any abuse of the body and advised followers of Jesus to avoid sins that could damage their health — such things as sexual immorality, gluttony, and drunkenness. Paul trained his body to be in submission to his spirit-man. Similarly, each one of us has the ability to exercise self-control through the power of the Holy Spirit working in us. We can “subdue” our bodies and make them do what we want, just as Paul did.
Nick and I travel more than 200,000 air miles each year preaching, teaching, and running all of our A21 Campaign offices around the world. We wouldn’t be able to physically cope with such a demanding schedule if we weren’t fit and healthy. It would be foolish of us to neglect our physical fitness and then pray, “Oh God, make us able to do this!” Why should God answer that prayer if we are not doing our part? Instead, we have to do all that we can do by exercising properly, taking the correct nutrition, and avoiding those things that would damage our health. When we faithfully do what we can do, God will do what only he can do to supernaturally sustain us.
MOMENT OF REFLECTION
What is your approach to physical fitness?