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| Fri, 05-21-2004 - 11:39am |
Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 6:9 19-20 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. (NIV)
I recently read an article entitled, “To Exercise or Not to Exercise – That’s the Question”. I could really identify with many of the ideas expressed by the author:
1. I have to exercise early in the morning before my brain figures out what I am doing.
2. If God meant for us to touch our toes, He would have put them further up our body.
3. The advantage of exercising every day is that you die healthier.
4. I don’t jog – it makes the ice jump right out of my glass.
5. I joined a health club last year, spent about $400.00 and haven’t lost a pound. Apparently you have to show up.
Several years ago, in a serious attempt to become physically fit, the Southerlands joined a local gym that offered a special family rate. It was quite a place! Hundreds of machines designed to stretch and pull every muscle in the human body occupied three levels of this beautiful facility. Classes of all kinds taught you how to jump, spin, dance and step the pounds off. Massage therapists worked their magic, soothing those newly stretched muscles that were rebelliously sore. Steam rooms, saunas, hot tubs and heated pools were available as well as a refreshment bar where smiling, disgustingly toned employees offered to mix a protein packed power “smoothie” just for us! Yum! Yum! Personal trainers were even available to design an individualized program that would help each one of us meet our individual fitness goals. Still other experts weighed, measured and coached us through those first painful days.
You can see that absolutely everything we needed to lose weight and become physically fit was ready and waiting for us at this gym. All we needed was the discipline to go!
We cannot give our hearts to God and keep our bodies for ourselves. The body is a temple that houses the Holy Spirit as well as our minds, hearts and emotions. When disobedience reigns here – in the physical body – it is a toehold for failure and defeat in other parts of life.
There are three areas of physical discipline - diet, rest and exercise. If we are not honoring God with what we eat, we are in sin. The sin may be in the amount we eat, what we eat, what we do not eat or all of the above! Junk food, poor eating habits and gluttony have become acceptable sins. But they are certainly not acceptable to the One who created this body in which we live. We have forgotten a very important truth – our body is His temple.
Rest is also part of physical discipline. Physical rest is not an option if we are to function at our best. Just as ninety percent of income goes farther when we tithe money, so does our energy when we tithe it in rest. Sleep and play are spiritual obedience. We were created with a need for both and they must be kept in the right balance. God rested on the seventh day. He did not need to rest but chose to do so in order to model a powerful example for us to follow.
Now back to the dreaded exercise! The main purpose of exercise is to keep the body healthy by enabling it to eliminate poisons, increase circulation, strengthen muscles and eliminate stress. Studies show that just thirty minutes of exercise three times a week is very beneficial to our health. Make time for exercise!
We only have one body. There are no trade-ins or exchanges. Extended warranties are not available! If God keeps track of the number of hairs on our head (Luke 12) then He is certainly concerned about our physical welfare. The way we service the body affects its operation and enables us to be more effective in Kingdom service.

Amy