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Honour God
by Andrew Evans
Worship the Lord your God with all your…
BODY?
Our motivation for any action should always be to honour and
glorify God our Father. Therefore, when we approach physical
fitness, we need to approach it in a manner that both honours
and glorifies God.
I have been reading from books of the founder, General William
Booth, Commissioner Samuel Brengle, various academic journals
and texts, and most importantly the Bible. I warn you that
this topic has the potential to make people feel bad about
themselves however, this is not an article that attempts to
make you feel bad about yourself in any way, but to encourage
you to treat your bodies the way God intended you to. If while
reading this article you feel convicted to change, then listen
to the Spirit and change for God’s glory. Or, if while reading
you feel you have been faithful with the way you treat you
body, praise God, and help others do the same with their
bodies.
The world has done an excellent job of distorting the way
people treat their bodies. For those who do not follow Christ,
there are many consequences of abusing the body, and for those
of us who do follow Christ, there are even more, and costly
consequences for abusing our bodies.
Paul states in Romans 12:1-2 “Therefore I urge you brothers,
in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as Living
Sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual
act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the patters of
the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is –
his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
The patterns of this world fit among two extremes and
unfortunately, these patterns exist in our Army. One extreme
is neglect for the body characterised by laziness and poor
diet and the other is overworking the body characterised by
over exercise and eating disorders. So what is God’s will for
your body? It is pleasing and perfect! God wants you to be as
healthy as possible, and as vigorous as possible so that your
bodily strength will increase so you can love him more in mind
and spirit. This covers the commandment, ‘Love the lord your
God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all
your strength.’ (Deut. 6:5). And by doing this, it will be
easier to follow the other great commandment, ‘Love your
neighbour as yourself.’ (Mat. 22:39). It is a lot easier to
love your wife or husband, son or daughter, friend or foe or
whoever else when you are not tired and grumpy which the two
extremes often lead to.
Commissioner Bengle writes in his book Love Slaves, ‘We must
remember that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost;
hence, while they need sufficient nourishing food and restful
sleep, they must in no sense be pampered, and all nervous
excesses must be strictly avoided, or the body will react upon
the mind and spirit, and weakness and impatience and gloom
will cloud the soul.” Brengle knew of the impact the body has
on the soul. I think many of us today have separated our body
and soul to the point of great danger.
The bottom line for our bodies is set clear for us by Paul in
1 Cor 6:19-20, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of
the Holy Spirit, who is in you? You are not your own; you were
bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body.”
Throughout history, God has dwelled in magnificent places
among man. He first had the Israelites build an amazing
tabernacle of great detail, then an even better temple built
by Solomon, and now His Holy Spirit is meant to dwell in the
most magnificent of all! Our bodies! We must be faithful with
this responsibility. Do not let it be corrupted by the patters
of this world.
The facts in Canada show a pattern of chronic diseases, such
as cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer and diabetes, being
responsible for most cases of morbidity and mortality. CVD,
cancer, respiratory diseases, and diabetes are responsible for
75% of all deaths in Canada (Health Canada, 2001). These
chronic diseases are also known in many cases as lifestyle
diseases because they are cause by lifestyle choices such as
physical inactivity, smoking, poor diets, and so on.
The more I learn about human physiology, the more I am amazed
with God and his creation. Our bodies are a billion times more
amazing than the temple built by Solomon. Man handcrafted the
temple, but God himself designed each and everyone of us. He
designed us to be used, to be active physically in serving
him. We have been designed to glorify God with our bodies. In
the days of Paul, when people walked everywhere and did chores
without a fancy machine, when people were physically active in
lifestyle he said to Timothy in 1 Tim 4:8 “For physical
training is of some value, but godliness has value for all
things…” If physical training was still of value in the days
where people were getting plenty of physical activity, how
much more important is this word for us today?
So what should we be doing to stay healthy? What do I
recommend to you? Many of you reading will be Soldiers in this
great army. I recommend, you brush up on your orders and
regulations found in our manual ‘Chosen to Be A Soldier’. I
believe that being a Soldier in this Army is the best,
healthiest lifestyle that any person can lead, however, it is
not easy to live up to. Praise God for his Holy Spirit! In
chapter 11, section 7, entitled The Care of the Body, it
states, “… the Salvationist will not despise or misuse his
body. Since it can be the instrument of God’s purpose, he will
endeavour – insofar as this is possible – to keep it in a
healthy, vigorous state.” It goes on to say, “The Salvationist
will seek to ensure that he gets sufficient fresh air,
exercise and sleep. This is Christian common sense. For
example, a person who has insufficient sleep is likely to be
both irritable and a poor workman.”
So as Soldiers we have no excuse. We have committed our bodies
to God and are expected to get exercise. We have also
proclaimed that we will abstain from all that can enslave us.
This not only includes smoking, alcohol, and pornography, but
also physical inactivity, over/under eating, television,
computer, and twiddling your thumbs or whatever else can
enslave and keep you from God’s plans for your life. Staying
on the physical health theme, if God has planed for you to
live to the age of 100 so that you can speak of him to many
people and bring glory to him through many years, but you are
physically inactive and develop a lifestyle chronic disease
and die at the age of 75 or 45, what then? God had so many
more plans for you in your healthy body, but you could not do
them because you were unfaithful with your body.
Don’t let this happen to you. God is gracious and
compassionate and a great restorer. He has designed our bodies
to get back into healthy vigorous states. Many diseases are
prevented and reversed with exercise.
For Healthy lives this is the minimum that you should do.
1. Every day Pray and Listen to the Holy Spirit as to what you
should do.
2. Get at least 30mins, 3 times a week of aerobic activity of
brisk walking intensity.
3. Do full body resistance exercises at least 1 time a week of
8-10 exercises.
4. Keep up with flexibility and balance, especially as you
age.
Now to the topic of food and diet - keep in mind I am not a
dietician. In the Salvation Army, our Communion is at every
meal. This means we remember Christ and his sacrifice for us
at every meal and is a time to give him Glory. If we are
glorifying Christ and remembering Him at every meal, we should
be prevented from over eating or not eating. Also if we are
truly remembering Christ at each meal, our talk would be full
of praise and spiritual conversation. This is how we should
approach meals.
With regard to what we eat, we should follow the Canada Food
Guide. A new guide as just been published and you can get a
copy for free by ordering online from the government.
Furthermore, here is a quote from ‘Religion For Every Day’ by
William Booth, “Eating and drinking have much to do with the
shortening of peoples lives… I very much question whether more
people do not die from over-eating than over-drinking.” Even a
hundred years ago, our founder hinted at the danger of over
eating. Therefore, when you go home after church on Sunday to
your roast beef meal, or to Swiss Chalet, do not over eat! I
know how hard it is to turn down a tasty yorkshire pudding
after already consuming five. Even when we know we are full,
food is still pleasant in our mouths.
Be a Living Sacrifice. Turn off the TV, computer, do something
radical and throw your TV away (if it is a plasma, sell it and
give the money to the poor). Read your Bible (if you aren’t
disciplined in reading your Bible, and praying, you don’t have
a chance with your body).
Give your life to God, mind, Spirit and Body.
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