God Cares About Our Bodies Too

This probably doesn’t make the list for the top ten most profound statements you’ve ever heard, but God cares about your body too.

It seems as though we in the Church today have allowed the culture around us to influence us into a compartmentalized mode of thinking wherein we not only allow, but even seek opportunities to outsource discipleship.

Physical health, exercise and nutrition?  Find a good personal trainer.

Fiscal health and stewardship?  Find a good money manager.

Time management skills and goal setting?  Attend a seminar.

Mental health, stress and relationships?  Find a good counselor.

Ah, but Spiritual things, those we’ll still address in the Church.

Of course there’s nothing wrong with seeking advice, training and accountability from skilled professionals, and in many cases a specialist or expert is needed.  So of course the nature of my jest has nothing to do with minimizing the benefits of expertise, but rather to acknowledge that when most of us think of Church, we don’t often think of physical training or financial education.  And if we aren’t careful, we can find ourselves thinking that these things aren’t all that important – or at least not all that important to our spiritual development.

But a thorough read-through of the scriptures will paint an entirely different picture.  The books of poetry offer much wisdom regarding the stewardship of our resources (time, money, health, work, talent), as did Jesus (in the NT).  And of course, who could forget Paul’s charge to the Romans to “Offer your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”?

It’s not that the body or the mind or the soul are any less important than the others, but it’s rather the acknowledgement that everything is spiritual.  

Your time, your thoughts, your bills, your relationships, your fitness…everything is spiritual.

So get out there and exercise your whole self – body, mind, spirit, resource management.  

Everything is spiritual.