Treat your body right

Do you not know that your bodies are temples 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 bodies. -1 Corinthians 6:19-20

With each passing year, God speaks to us through our bodies. And when we’re not treating these vessels well, which were made in His image, we will know.

In 1995, I was stranded on the side of the freeway in my car, which overheated. Since the car had an automatic transmission, my left foot had no pedals to press, so I always rested my left knee against the door. Well, just as I was about to get out of the car, I looked in my side mirror, and a car was getting really, really big…really, really fast in it. And it sideswiped me, knocking my left knee over toward my right. Since then, I’ve overcompensated by walking too heavily on my right knee, and now both are bad!

As the years go by, I’ve had more and more joint and muscular pain. It’s getting harder to run at all, and even walking is difficult when my knees and ankles give out. Now, these have gotten progressively worse over the years. And being a typical guy, I’m not being a good steward of this ship He gave me by not getting medical attention for these known issues.

We all have differing degrees of aches and pains in our bodies, some of which we bring upon ourselves. But I’m a (sometimes slowly) walking testament to what can happen when we don’t properly maintain these bodies He gives us. This poor stewardship doesn’t just affect me, but those around me: I might not have it in me to help push a stranded car, or keep up with my growing son!

And there are obviously many other ways you can mistreat the body God gave you: drugs, self-harm, casual sex, and so on. All these things are easy to take part in, and can lead to heavy consequences that come from sin.

So before we do yet more harm to the gifts of these bodies God has given us, let us take a step back to breathe, then listen to what the Holy Spirit calls us to do. Slowing down the pace of life for guidance from the Holy Spirit will immensely simplify the most hectic, complex, and stressful life, because putting God’s voice first will show you which other voices are false. Let’s slow down and listen to the Helper, who will guide us down God’s straighter, truer path.