We each have a body given to us by God. Isn’t it our responsibility to take care of it? That’s what Paul tells us to do in Romans 12:1 when he writes – “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” New Living Translation 
Caring for our physical body certainly makes sense because each of us would want to be as healthy as possible but it’s also a commandment by God. Our physical health is affected by our emotional health and our emotional health is affected by our spiritual health.
Paul tells us to give our body to God and that it(our body) should be a form of sacrifice to Him. In fact, I believe Paul is telling us that caring for our body is a form of worship. Caring for our body is a way to demonstrate to God that we love Him. If you believe that God sent His only son Jesus to die for our sins, isn’t it only reasonable that we should care for the physical body that He gave us?
Caring for our body means taking care of our physical health. Being physically active, eating well, getting adequate sleep and rest, being free from addictions and managing our stress are a few key aspects of attending to our physical health. The beautiful thing is that the Bible spells out so many guidelines on how we are to go about doing this.
If you are a believer you have an extra incentive to care for your body. Once you accept Jesus as your savior the Holy Spirit takes up residence in your physical body. God actually lives in you. If you love God, and He lives in you in the form of the Holy Spirit, doesn’t it make sense to care for our body in the best way possible? I believe it does and I must admit sometimes I am too relaxed at some of my health-related behaviors, especially my eating behaviors. Coffee with its caffeine and sugar added, candy bars… and I could name many other items that are not healthy to be putting into my body where God lives. The wonderful thing is that God is a God of grace and forgiveness. In my case, he knows that I am slowly surrendering that area of my life to Him and asking for His help in changing that part of my behavior.
If you’re not taking really good care of the body God has given you, He can help you change that. If you make a decision… a conscious choice to change and ask God to help you, then He will. He will honor your intentions. If you’re not a Christian and you are struggling with an aspect of your behavior that affects your health, then God wants to be a part of helping you do that. You can make a choice to ask Jesus to come into your heart… and He will help transform the areas of your life that you ask Him to. It’s a matter of believing, asking and surrendering.
Our physical bodies really do belong to God… and He wants us to take great care of them! So make healthy choices… with God’s help.
Have a wonderful day!
Dale
Donna Lee Schillinger says
January 29, 2010 at 2:37 PMThanks, Dale, for this commentary. We have a weight loss support group at our church called the Inside-Out WLSG, referring to Romans 12:1-2 – be transformed by the renewing of your mind. In other words, the way to a healthy body is to transform the mind, which is what’s driving us to eat (not the stomach, usually).
Louisa says
December 27, 2010 at 7:28 PMWhat an awesome word, i totally agree and have an understanding of this and also share this with my husband and 2 beautiful daughters. Our bodies are our temples so we should take care of them for they are a vessel given to us to care for on this earth.
God Bless….