Why a Christian should pursue physical fitness

I once heard a story of the meeting of two preaching giants of the 19th century, Dwight L. Moody and Charles Haddon Spurgeon. D. L. Moody was a famous American preacher from Chicago. Charles Spurgeon was a British Baptist pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London.

Moody was visiting London on a European tour and wanted to meet his English counterpart. When he reached Spurgeon’s home Moody was surprised to see Spurgeon answer the door smoking a large cigar which he indulged in occasionally. Moody pointed to the cigar and commented in astonishment at Spurgeon’s vice. In response, Spurgeon pointed to Moody’s large waistline and let Moody know that he wasn’t the only one who wasn’t perfect in his ways.

In the present world, smoking has diminished as an acceptable practice in the church, but unfortunately, gluttony is viewed by most as an acceptable sin.

Overeating, the acceptable sin

Growing up in the church I have been to church functions all my life. I doesn’t seem to matter what denomination you go to, the same saying can apply to all. What I would hear all the time was, “we don’t meet unless we eat”.

I had to chuckle once when I read some jokes on how many people of different denominations it took to change a light bulb. When it came to Baptists, and I was a Baptist pastor, I had to agree that it was true. It said it would take 15 people on 3 committees and the third committee was created to decide who would bring the potato salad.

Now there is a lot of joy when you take part in a communal meal together. It builds friendships and bonds between brothers and sisters, but there is a downside to all this eating together and that is the expanding of the waistline.

There is no getting around these communal meals. At the church I’m at now there seems to be at least one meal a month. You have Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, the annual picnic, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, you name it, if there is an excuse for a meal, we have one.

I’ve known a lot of pastors in my time and very few of them were slim, that needs to change. As a pastor, you are to be an example to those you are entrusted to guide. If you allow yourself to indulge in eating too much you fail to teach others the virtue of self-control, which is one of the fruits of the Spirit.

The Bible’s teaching on a Healthy lifestyle

So what does the Bible teach about taking care of one’s body. You may not think the Bible may say anything about physical fitness but it does. The apostle Paul often used athletes and the way they trained as examples of the way believers should dedicate themselves in growing in their faith.

In 1 Timothy 4:8 Paul says, “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.”

Though the focus in this verse is about the superior benefits of practicing godliness, Paul doesn’t discount bodily exercise. It does profit, only it profits in the here and now and godliness profits in the here and now as well as in the world to come.

There is one verse that made me sit up and think about the importance of taking better care of my body. That verse was I Corinthians 6:19 which says, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”

Now what Paul was talking about in this verse was sexual immorality and the need to stay clear of it, not defiling the body which is the temple of God where the Holy Spirit dwells in each believer.

Though that is the context of this verse, the principle being taught here is that our bodies are the temple of God, since we have the Holy Spirit, and should be treated like a temple.

In ancient times the temple was the centerpiece of a town. It was the central attraction of the town and as such was greatly cared for by the townspeople.

As a believer in Christ, taking care of the body should be important. As I Corinthians 6:19 says, the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. As that temple we should care for it and protect it from harm. Just as the ancient people would fix and repair any damage to the temple so we should do our part and help our body grow through proper nutrition and exercise.

Our body is the one thing that God has given us that we have for a lifetime. Our cars, houses, computers and money comes and goes, but our body is entrusted to us for our entire life. How we take care of it tells a lot about ourselves. If we do not take care of our bodies we may pay the consequences later in our lives in misery and pain.

One day we are promised in the Bible a new, spiritual body, one that will last for eternity, but until that day, we need to be good stewards of what we have been given. The body we have is an amazing and intricate thing, full of so many parts and systems. We need to care for it because it is all we have in this lifetime and no matter where we are in our fitness journey, we need to thank God for the blessings He has provided for us to live and move and breath.

If this has been an encouragement in any way let me know.

Have a wonderful and blessed day.