Glorifying God in the Body

First Corinthians 6:19-20 reads:

[D]o you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Contextually, these verses are related to sexual purity within the church; because God has purchased us with His blood, we are not our own. Therefore, we should honor Him with our bodies by abstaining from sexual immorality.

This isn’t, however, a post about sexual immorality.

It’s about how I’m learning to apply the principle of stewardship that exists within this passage.

Because our bodies, like everything else, are not our own, we have a responsibility to steward them well.

Growing up, this is a principle that I never understood. Partly because of genetics, but mostly because of poor eating decisions, I was a very, very heavy kid. You know how with babies and toddlers, they get really chubby then grow into it?

I was kind of like that, except 18. When I was 12, I was about 5-ish feet tall and 185 pounds. When I was 18, I was 6 feet tall and… 185 pounds. Except then I stopped growing. So I stayed 6 feet tall, then just grew out.

I touched on this topic back in March in relation to reading the Pursuit of Holiness, so I’m going to try to not rehash too much. Sufficed to say, I’ve always struggled with living a healthy lifestyle in terms of physical fitness.

This week, I was reminded of the necessity of even my physical health as a stewardship issue after our pastor preached through John 3:16-21.

God has chosen to love me, despite my hatred of Him. And because He has shown me pure, unmerited favor, I want to worship Him!

And that includes how I treat my body.

I’m now a week into my new gym membership, and I’ve got to say, I’m very pleased. My physical memory is good. My strength and endurance are already improving. My eating habits are getting better. My weight has even dropped a teeny bit.

But most importantly, it’s an opportunity to glorify God in my body.

God is its owner; I want to steward it well.