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Something quite different this week. Bear with me.
Do you take care of your body (or at least try) in part because you believe that God wants you to do so? This is not a devotional in the traditional sense; it is a series of random thoughts and ideas that result in a question: “Does the Bible commission anyone to properly take care of their bodies (nutrition, physical activity, etc.)?
The following are a series of mostly coherent bullet points I jotted down this morning when I tried to make a list of all the things currently I try and accomplish before leaving the house for work.
• Awake (barely)
• Pray for a few minutes before my feet hit the ground
• Take my cleansing breaths as I sit up
• Get up and make coffee and drink with 1 small handful of walnuts
• Do your stretches (provided by a sports therapist) for 20 mins
• Open windows for daylight; there is none, of course
• Take the battery of pills including Vitamin D
• Sit in the Lazy Boy chair and stair out at the schoolyard across the street
• Drink equal water to coffee
• Make breakfast; protein, fiber, carb; eat the protein and fiber first
• Add broccoli sprouts and blueberries if available
• Shower and shave (every other day)
• Pack the bag; wallet, phone, keys, glasses
• Make up the bed before leaving
• Determine clothes to wear, then wear them
• Communicate frequently with Brigita to catch anything I forgot or any day-specific to-dos
• Two vehicles or one?
• Did you pack extra clothes for gym (not every day)?
That is more or less my regimen for self-care. What’s missing, though?
• Bible reading?
• Extra blood flow?
• More relational Brigita chat?
• More bathroom hygiene?
This is how some people (I’m not the only one) approach the start of their day. They have a routine (some more than others) for kicking things off. Some of it is practical, some of it is philosophical, some of it is just plain years of habit.
But how much of it is biblical? I discovered a problem with this question as I went to analyze what I thought would be the many Bible passages that instruct us on how to take good physical and mental care of our bodies. Let me show you.
1 Timothy 5:23 — Take action concerning a physical illness
“Stop drinking only water and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.”
Paul instructs Timothy on specific health issues that Timothy has. He’s hardly saying that all people should drink wine. But what he is also not offering is advice on overall self-care.
Ephesians 5:28–29 — Feed and care for your body
“After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church.”
This one sounds a lot more like what I was looking for. Imagine my disappointment to find that this is actually an illustration Paul offers his readers about how husbands should love their wives. All we can truly say about this verse is that Paul assumes his readers engage in something called feeding and caring for their bodies.
Ephesians 5:18 — Do not get drunk
“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”
Again, the mandate here doesn’t seem focused on nutrition as much as it is on the moral and idolatrous issues that arise from drinking too much wine. Not much help here.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – Glorify God with your body
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”
The warning just prior to these verses are about honouring God by not committing adultery, joining sexually with one you are not married to, etc. Paul is not really writing about nutrition and physical activity as his aim.
Romans 12:1 – Living sacrifices
“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
This verse starts a chapters-long argument for how one is to live in light of the fact that they have been saved by Jesus, justified by God, and regenerated by the Holy Spirit. It’s about the path toward new life, most of it about righteous behaviour, not really a body care teaching.
1 Timothy 4:8 – body discipline vs. godliness
“On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things.”
If anything, this verse says that godliness is more important than body discipline, but we finally find a verse that seems to indicate a SMALL measure of value in taking care of and even developing one’s overall body health.
I do not profess that these verses completely exhaust the matter. It seems that the primary reason people spend so much time contemplating and managing the overall health of their body is to stay around here on earth as long as they can. They don’t particularly find body deterioration all that appealing.
But, at the end of this rambling, I go back to 1 Corinthians 6 (see above). Our bodies are temples. In that illustration, I pick up two things clearly.
First, we are a temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells. That should stop anyone in their tracks to recognize that God dwells within us. What we do with our bodies matters and that goes well beyond sexual immorality.
Second, Our bodies are not our own. It’s not enough to say that the Holy Spirit lives inside us. We have to finish the thought and acknowledge that the bodies we are in possession of belong to God. Our flesh is His property. We are body stewards; caretakers of flesh and blood and bone.
And maybe that’s a reason to keep taking the morning routine (and afternoon and evening) seriously. Sure, we may not always agree on the best foods to eat or the right exercise routine nor are we always clear about how far to take this body discipline which is of small value (1 Timothy 4:8). But biblically speaking, body care does matter.
I leave you with this.
Ecclesiastes 2:24
“There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God.”