How to Honor God with Your Body

I’m continuing to take my kiddos through the identities we’ve been given through Jesus and this week we talked about how our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Honestly the intersection of the physical and spiritual when it comes to how we treat, think about, and care for our bodies is something I want to dig deeper into this year. Let’s consider this the intro, shall we?

“Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?” 1 Corinthians 3:16 NLT

“Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NLT

For Paul to ask this question the way He does twice in his letter to the Corinthians kind of makes me chuckle. They had a problem honoring God with their bodies, primarily in the way of sexual immorality, which was common in the ancient world and the Corinthian culture that they were a part of. In fact, I think 1 Corinthians holds an immense amount of wisdom for our current cultural moment today. The similarities are striking!

The foundation of how we think about every decision we make about our bodies starts here:

Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, what you do with your body matters to God because you are His, and there is a way to use our bodies that honors God. Let’s break that down a bit.

All of the fitness influencers love to use verses like the ones above to justify buying their workout programs or their meal plans. The emphasis is on you and your personal health, but your personal health actually has implications for the people around you, and even the world!

You could say that if you are physically healthy, you have more opportunities to do good in the world, to love and serve others, and bring the kingdom of heaven to Earth. Physical health is a good thing, like Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:8, but it’s only a small part of the picture here.

Here are a few things I talked through with my kids about how we can honor God with our body:

1. Through Serving and Helping Others:

Jesus’ ministry on Earth was characterized by helping people with both their physical (or immediate) needs and their spiritual needs. We can use our bodies to minister to people in both of these ways.

2. Our Words:

This is something I want to grow in and think about more this year. How can I use my words as a force for good in the kingdom and for God’s glory?

This may be things like sharing Jesus with others, providing encouragement, offering forgiveness and grace when people sin against me, pointing people to the good in a situation even when things seem dark, reminding others that God is good, generous, and faithful. These were just a few things that came to mind. Honoring God with our words is a powerful practice. Like we see in Proverbs 18:21, “Life and death are in the power of the tongue.”

3. Our Thoughts:

Even our thought life is an opportunity to honor God. What we think about and meditate on directly affects us spiritually, as well as our relationship with God and others.

Don’t neglect to take inventory of your thought life regularly. It’s one place the enemy likes to plant seeds of untruths. It’s a great reason to stay rooted in scripture and practice scripture memory. Truth will combat the lies.

4. Rest and Sabbath:

Our family started implementing a weekly sabbath a few years ago and it was one of the best things for me personally. I have a tendency to overwork, focus on tasks and my to-do list more than people, and overall just feel like everything is up to me!

Taking one day to sabbath (which we define to our kids as “rest and worship”) reminds me that I am human, that I need rest, and that I need to build in extra time with the Lord each week. It reminds me that I can’t do it all and that I need God. And that’s been a good thing for me!

5. Be Grateful for Your Body:

Odds are, there may be something that you don’t love about your body or wish was different. It may be a physical feature, chronic illness, an injury, or any number of things. It’s important to thank God for your body. Your body is a gift! There’s a reason God made us both soul and body.

Take some time to thank God for the good things about your body. Even small things, like the ability to walk, your mind, the ability to exercise, and beyond. Brainstorm some ways you can honor God with your body today, this week, and this year. Your body is a gift! Leverage it for the Kingdom and the good of those around you.