#7 Take care of your body
To stay physically healthy, you will pay now through dieting, physical exercise, and adequate rest, or you will pay later through premature debilitation and possibly a shortened life span. Like it or not, the law of sowing and reaping is inviolable. How many godly, gifted men have I known who refused to discipline themselves in their eating habits, working out, and pacing their lives, only to pay dearly in their senior years. Do we grasp the fact that our body belongs to God and is to be stewarded according?
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body (I Cor. 6:19, 20).
We live in a high paced, highly stressed society that places immense demands upon us. Compared to a century ago, we are living life on steroids. Jesus warned us that in the world you will have trouble. That word trouble in the original language conveys the idea of anguish, distress, affliction, pressure; to be squeezed. The good news is that Christ also said in the same breath, In me you may have peacetake heart! I have overcome the world" (Jn. 16:33). Other biblical notables have commented on this issue of our trouble in life:
Job: Man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upwardMan born of woman is of few days and full of trouble (Job 5:7;14:1).
David: All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan (Psa. 90:9).
Paul: I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tearsI face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches (2 Cor. 2:4a; 11:28b). (See Act. 14:22)
At age 33 I returned from a missionary stint in Asia, so physically depleted that I could not run around the block once! Determined to get myself into shape, I began swimming 3 days a week until I got up to a mile. It took six months and I hated every minute of it. After two years of swimming, there was a breakthrough where I actually began enjoying it. Since 1970 I have been swimming 3 5 miles a week. Five years ago I added a rigorous gym workout to my regimen. I have become convinced that the spiritual and the physical aspects of our lives are inextricably linked together. I have noticed that when I am down physically I tend toward having the blahs spiritually. (See Pro. 3:7, 8; 16:24)
Physical discipline is part and parcel of the serious disciples life: Paul: Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness[Like a boxer] I buffet my body [handle it roughly, discipline it by hardships] and subdue it, for fear that after proclaiming to others the Gospel and things pertaining to it, I myself should become unfit [not stand the test, be unapproved and rejected as a counterfeit] (1 Tim. 4:7b NASB; 1 Cor. 9:27 Amp. N. T.). (See 2 Tim. 2:3-7)
QUESTION: We learn from the life of Jesus that He was well orbed: Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men (Lk. 2:52b) Shouldnt that also be true of us, His disciples?
This week may you experience His grace, peace and protection.
R. Dwight Hill