Temple of the Spirit

I used to be sporty, back when I was in primary school I did cross country and hurdles and 100m sprints; I swam and played hockey. I was an active child. Then I got to high school and I was only average so didn’t really make the teams and I got very involved in culture. Since then I have tried every now and then to get into a regular exercise program with very little success.

Add to that two children 15 months apart and my body has taken a beating. And it shows.

My friend and I have been chatting lots recently about different plans for us to get in shape. There are loads of eating plans and 8 or 12 week programmes and dieticians and biokineticists and exercise challenges and eating and exercise programmes combined. They all have their pros and cons and we have spent a fair amount of time investigating and discussing and planning.

One day we stopped to ask ourselves, what is the godly way to do this? Should Christians approach this differently? Does it make any difference?

After much prayer I had these thoughts.

1 Corinthians 6 tells us that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we are to honour God with our bodies. 1 Corinthians 10 says whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we should do it all for the glory of God. I understand this to mean that it is good for us to eat well; it is good to exercise and to take care of ourselves. It is good to be healthy.

BUT

If we are spending longer on meal planning than on God, we are no longer honouring Him. If I have time to exercise but I don’t have time to read my Bible then my body has become an idol.

Soon Colin’s work will calm down and Tim will sleep longer and I will have capacity to think of meal plans and exercise programmes and potentially an 8 or 12 week programme. And there is nothing wrong with that. As long as my motive is pure. My motive should be to honour God with my body, to use it for that which He intended; to take care of His temple. Losing weight and getting thinner are by products but should not be the ultimate goal. If they become the goal then I need to be reminded that as the Paul Oakley song says

It’s all about You, Jesus,
And all this is for You,
For Your glory and Your fame.
It’s not about me,
As if You should do things my way;
You alone are God,
And I surrender to Your ways.