THE GIFT OF OUR BODIES

This is the fourth in the series, "Living as Whole Persons in Jesus Christ."



I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.                                                       Psalm 139:14  (NRSV)

I appeal to you, therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship.  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God -- what is good and acceptable and perfect.   
                                                Romans 12:1-2 (NRSV)

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?   
                                                                                                                      I Corinthians 6:29 (NRSV)


In the corner of my front room sits my mother's piano given to her by my father on their first anniversary.   She left to me because of all her daughters who took lessons and played that piano, she knew I was the one who truly enjoyed it and appreciated what it meant to her.  She knew I would treasure it.  So, even though I don't have the time to play it like I used to, I could never part with it.  I honor it and the love it symbolizes.

Our Heavenly Father gave us physical bodies.  Do we honor them and the love they symbolize as we should?

 I get up in the morning, I look like a hung-over muppet.  I have to give my husband credit, he has never laughed out loud at me.  I prefer to think that smile means he's glad to see me.

Fearfully and wonderfully made?  I'm not too sure about that.

But yet the creation story in Genesis says humans are.  When God created human beings, God chose to give us physical bodies.  He rolled up His sleeves, scooped up a handful of red clay from the river bank and crafted our physical form.  Our bodies bear the ridges and loops of God's finger prints.  And you thought they were just wrinkles.

And yet, as human beings, we tend to have some distorted ideas about our bodies.  Flip through a magazine, watch television or click on those ads that appear on websites and FaceBook, and we're presented with images of the ideal human body that most of us will never be able to attain.  The message is that physical and ageless perfection is the secret to a happy life.  Silly me, I thought it was Jesus.

In addition to that, there's been some stinkin' thinkin' handed down through the church about our bodies.  The physical body is the source of all manner of sin and evil.  It should be disconnected from the human trinity and only the mind and soul be nurtured and glorified.   I seem to remember Jesus saying that sin originates in the mind and what we choose to indulge ourselves in.

When we let those messages we get from others to form our self-image, we lose sight of the fact that our bodies are a gift from God.

Through our bodies, we experience the wonder of God's creations, the sights, the smells, the tastes and the feel of this world.  What would autumn be without the colors of turning leaves, the "scrunch, scrunch, scrunch" as we shuffle through fallen leaves, or the smell of burning leaves.

What could we fully experience God without our bodies?  I Corinthians 6:19 says our bodies are holy temples.  They not only house our minds and souls, but also the Spirit of Christ.  In Romans 12:1, we are urged to present our bodies as living sacrifices for the glory of God.  We use our bodies to praise God, hear the Word, to taste the sweetness of the communion elements, to proclaim the gospel and to serve Christ and others.  Through the our bodies, we bring a physical presence and expression of God's love for the world.

And we can't do that if we're sleep-deprived, inactive, and not making making healthy eating choices.  Healthy living is how we honor the gift of our physical being and life.  Healthy living is what helps bring balance to the mind-body-soul connection.  Physical self-care is part of how we love ourselves so we can love others.  Self-care frees us to be able to serve as Christ calls us to.

God gave us physical bodies.  How can we honor this gift?  What attitudes get in the way of doing this.  What are the habits we have to change?

Renewing our minds and changing old habits are near impossible, but there is nothing that the grace of God can't redeem and transform.  We can do all things in Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13), including developing a healthy life style.

We begin in offering to Christ our unhealthy attitudes and habits and asking Him to come into those areas of our lives and replace them with His healing and strength.  It's then up to us to step out in faith, participate with grace and begin living as God intends us to live.

Let us offer our bodies as living sacrifices so that we can experience the freedom of whole persons (mind, body and soul) in Jesus Christ.