People are abusing their bodies like never before in America. According to the Associated Press, in 2004, some 4 million Americans are morbidly obese. That figure has ballooned (pun intended) to 15 million today. The second leading cause of preventable death in America is obesity. This is an area in which I constantly struggle. This, plus America’s problems with drugs, alcohol, anorexia, steroids, and such are all in the news.

What does God say about our bodies and how should we treat them?

Is our spiritual life connected to our physical bodies?

Many times, we see it proven that the physical and spiritual are connected. The following is one example of this:

In 539 AD, a man named Bodidarama (later called Tamo by the Chinese) left his monastery in southern India to spread the Buddhist faith to China.  After some time, he was admitted to the Shaolin SSU (Temple).  After gaining entrance he saw that the monks were weak and could not perform the rigorous meditations he expected of them.  Considering the time and health awareness at the time, Tamo came to a staggering, accurate conclusion that the monks were not “fit” to meditate. He created 3 treaties of exercise. These in-place exercises were later transcribed by monks as “The Muscle Change Classic”, “The Change of the Sinew”, “The Morrow Washing”, “The Eighteen Hand Movements”. This all became known as Shaolin Temple Kung Fu meaning hard work and perfection. He later added some defensive motions. This enabled them to do their meditation and study, thus fulfilling their “spiritual” requirements.

It is abundantly clear even in the secular world that physical fitness influences all other areas. This story is just some of the evidence of this subject. The research out there is astounding.

But does the Bible comment on this?

All physical desires were created by God. Satan loves to pervert them (i.e., sexual needs, eating, sleeping, etc.). The Bible tells us, in I Corinthians 6:12-13, that we should not be brought under the power of anything. The Apostle Paul put an emphasis on athletics and physical fitness. Now, understand that the spiritual is more important, but the physical is a vital part.

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:  But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Paul used the word temperate in this passage. The word means “self-control”.  Those that strive for excellence in their bodies are self-controlled in other areas as well. If they practice self control to receive a corruptible crown, how much more should we who are striving for something far better. Paul relates that to how he runs. Paul uses the terms to keep under and subjection to describe what he does with the physical body.  The subjection comes from the Greek word for a galley slave who is brought into obedience by stern and rigid discipline. Why did he bring his physical body into subjection? Because Paul knew that this affected his ministry – he could be cast away.

Paul also mentions to Timothy in I Timothy 4:8 that “bodily exercise profiteth little”.  Timothy’s father was a Greek, and it is possible that Timothy would get caught up in physical exercise to the detriment of his spiritual life. This should never be the case, but Paul does say that exercise has some profit.

I think in Scripture it is also interesting that the Bible calls our body the “temple of God”. (I Corinthians 6:19-20; 3:9) In the Old Testament, God condemned the people for not caring for God’s temple (Haggai 1:4).  If God’s temple is our bodies, should we not care for it?  We easily use this philosophy to condemn drinking, smoking, and drugs which is proper, but we aren’t so quick to judge our over- or under-eating, too much or not enough rest, or lack of exercise and discipline in our physical life.

We can destroy our bodies a lot of ways. We would readily read these verses to teens about immoral relationships, cigarettes, drugs, or alcohol. We, however, can damage our bodies just as much by over-eating, over-working, or lack of sleep.  If these things destroy God’s temple, would He not be just as much displeased?

May we be testimonies to the world by how we handle God’s temples!

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Reason Together Podcast.