It Has Some Thoughts About Your Ministry.
You already know the Holy Spirit lives in you. But have you stopped to consider what that means for your Tuesday afternoon energy crash, your skipped lunches, and that nagging shoulder tension that shows up every time a deacon meeting is on the calendar?
Our bodies and our spirits are not separate departments. They share an office. What happens in one affects the other, and God, who designed the whole arrangement, seems pretty interested in how we're treating the space He moved into.
“What your body reflexively reaches for (food, overwork, distraction) tells you something about your interior life.”
Take five minutes to read and reflect on how God might be speaking to you about your physical well-being. The following thoughts are adapted from Ruth Haley Barton and Dallas Willard.
1. A well-cared-for body gives you stamina for the long haul. When Elijah hit the wall (and he hit it hard), God's response wasn't a sermon. It was a nap and a snack (1 Kings 19:7). The angel's instructions were refreshingly practical: “The journey is too great for you.” Rest. Eat. Then go. Pastors are in it for the long journey too, and your body is the vehicle. A vehicle you've been running on fumes deserves a pit stop. Is your body asking for rest? Nutrition? Movement? Or have you quietly filed those needs under “less spiritual than prayer”?
2. Spiritual formation actually runs through your body. Dallas Willard put it plainly in Renovation of the Heart (p. 165): our bodies only do what we've trained them to do over time. Your outward life flows from the quality of your inward life with Christ, and it flows through your body. What your body reflexively reaches for (food, overwork, distraction) tells you something about your interior life. Cooperating with God's grace means paying attention to those patterns, not just powering through them. What are your body's default settings? Are you running it, or is it running you?
3. Your body is actually a pretty good place to experience God. Paul describes us as “earthen vessels” carrying treasure (2 Cor. 4:7). Humble containers, yes, but still the containers God chose. We encounter God through a shared meal, through rest after hard work, through the goodness of community. Caring well for your body doesn't pull you away from God; it can actually expand the range of ways you experience life with Him. Are you giving yourself permission to experience God in and through your body, or is “spiritual experience” confined to one narrow column?
4. Your body is already trying to tell you something. The human body is a remarkably honest diagnostician. Joy, anxiety, peace, exhaustion, contentment, dread, all of it shows up physically before we've named it consciously. Your body is running a dashboard of indicators about the rest of your life, and it's been trying to get your attention. What is yours saying right now? Is it flagging something you've been meaning to deal with? What's one small thing you could do today in response?
5. The Incarnation and Resurrection make this non-negotiable. If you want the most theologically compelling case for taking your body seriously, look no further than Christmas and Easter. God took on human flesh in Christ. That same body was raised for eternity. And one day, yours will be too (1 Cor. 15). The Incarnation says bodies matter enough for God to inhabit one. The Resurrection says they matter enough to redeem forever. This is not a minor doctrinal footnote. It is the centerpiece of our faith. Do you view your body as God-given and sacred? What would it look like, starting today, to honor Him through it?
