Continued Thoughts on “Body N’ Soul”...

Friday, 24. August 2007 by Dan Ryan

... a continuation of my last post. - By Dan Ryan

Well, lets continue our thoughs and check out this connection between our physical health and spiritual health - for there are some profound implications for you and I today.  Now this may be news to some, or seem like a stretch to others, but how we treat our body - what we eat, how we exercise, etc. - all of these have a genuine impact on our spiritual life.  I’ve been reading 1st Corinthians the past couple weeks, and it’s been a rush to read chapter 6 in a whole new light.  Let’s walk backwards through the last half of that chapter for a moment.
“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.” -1st Corinthians 6:19-20
At this point, the connection between body and soul is beginning to deepen.  Our bodies are not our own; you and I were ransomed—for the highest of price, no less.  Maybe that’s why the vice grip of sexual sin is so deeply destructive to anyone who really desires a relationship with God.  And sure enough, right before these lines, Paul begs us to:
“Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.”     —1st Corinthians 6:18
Granted, that talks about sex.  That’s one thing, but c’mon—what we eat, how much we eat and how we exercise and how we treat our body, etc.—that’s a whole other issue. That’s not a sin. None of that determines what kind of relationship we have with God…
Actually, this exact kind of mindset is why Paul wrote the people in Corinth in the first place.  Some Corinthians were arguing that even if sexual immorality is a sin - certainly what they ate, or didn’t eat, does not matter in this new age of grace.  After all, their bodies were mortal.  “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food” was a popular mantra in Corinth at the time, and one Paul addresses in this chapter.
“Food for the stomach and the stomach for food”…what the heck does that mean?

I believe one implication boils down to the following issue: Are we eating to live or living to eat?  The first perspective is healthy, while the other is borderline (or oftentimes actual) idolatry.  Now let’s be real clear here: nobody is saying that eating a bag of Doritos is a sin.  But we should be asking, “Am I a slave to this food or drink or behavior?  Could I really give it up right now?  How could I further honor God with how I treat my body?” - instead of dumbing it down to a legalistic issuse of, “Am I allowed to eat/do this?”  When our relationship with God has degenerated into what we can, or can’t, get away with, then we are far away from what God intended for our relationship with Him. 
From my own life, I can tell you that it’s actually possible to worship God with what I eat and how much I eat.  I feel closer to God when I eat healthily and not too much junk - and I feel more distant from him when I’ve been a glutton or am eating irresponsible - just to feed my desires.  And when I run, lift weights, swim, or play basketball or racquetball, it is often a worship experience for me.  No kidding!  In addition… just this morning… I came across an article in USA Today about how science if finding a growing connection between exercise and spiritual awareness.  Friends, even science is hopping on this bandwagon.  
“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.” –Romans 12:1
Did you catch that? Living sacrifices. This is in stark contrast to the usual sacrifice that was common to Jewish people of that day - for a dead animal that didn’t have too much of a say in the matter.  But living sacrifices, now this is a new concept.  After all, living sacrifices have a choice: they can crawl off the altar.  We can crawl off that altar at any time (and many times do).
God is not asking for your perfection.  But for some of us—for many of us—the next step toward a deeper relationship with God might be a physical, bodily one.  So let’s personalize this.  Is your next “spiritual” step to change what you’re putting in your body?  What you’re not putting in it?  Is it what you’re doing with your body?  What you’re not doing?  You’re a living sacrifice - able to choose answers to these questions.  Just…
“Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.  Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.”  —1st Corinthians 9:25-26
Right now, are you preparing your body to compete to get the “prize”?  How we treat, and what we actually do with our bodies, will either take us further away from God or closer to Him.
Somehow, someway, they are connected beyond our understanding.  Physical and spiritual.  Body and soul.