Our Bodies For God's Glory

Many Christians focus on the externals of serving God with their body--going through the motions--forgetting the spiritual dimension.  The Jews also focused on externalism like fasting, sacrifices, Sabbath and holy day observance, circumcision, kosher rules, washing of hands and feet, and tithing.  It was Jesus who first brought spirituality into this new realm of performance.  We are not called to be a body-builder nor to elevate the body in such a way so as to distract from the spiritual element.  Even non-Christians can diet, exercise, and be hygienic but this doesn't define any spiritual devotion--quite the contrary, it may be a focus on the physical at the expense of the spiritual.  Paul did say that physical exercise was of some benefit but the discipline of godliness has a greater reward in this life and the one to come; though we must discipline our bodily passions, appetites, and desires.

There have been great believers who have been overweight for instance including Spurgeon and Luther, and there is no direct correlation between weight and holiness.  It is far more significant whether one is a glutton or makes food the focus of his life than whether they are overweight.  Some refer to 1 Cor. 9:27 that mentions that we can be "disqualified" after having preached to others, but this means being trapped in sin, not some physical standard to comply with or meet. 

Preachers that work out may live longer, be more attractive, and feel better about themselves, but there is no direct correlation with spiritual hygiene and physical discipline, especially in the senior years.  We don't need work-out heroes and champs but prayer warriors!  I see ads for male testosterone that enhances a man's ability to gain muscle mass and think this is nothing but vanity--a no-no for one's spiritual walk.  We need to learn to walk with the Lord, not walk our dog!  This physical body will decay and it's not a contest to see what a good corpse will be in our coffin.

On the other hand, though we don't either exalt nor degrade it we ought to treat it with respect and not be abusive nor remiss.  For instance, when good food is available we should have the discipline to eat our vegetables and even thank God we have them and not consume them begrudgingly.  Our appetites can get the best of us and lead to lack of discipline overall.  Our physical health is enhanced by proper diet and this, in turn, makes us feel better and more productive for God's work--but I do not believe we are called to be vegans or go on fancy and expensive diet programs.  The key is to avoid extremes and to count all food as the blessing of God and none should be refused for His sake.

But let's focus on the real bodies that we must dedicate to God:  our feet are meant to rush to those that need comfort and aid; we need to be lending a helping hand to those in need; we need eyes that see that world's blight and disasters; we have voices that sound off for God and spread His message of grace; God gave us ears that hear those crying for help (we must beware lest God's Word falls on deaf ears); our minds must be dedicated to thinking a divine viewpoint and expressing the thoughts of Christ with His cures; God gave us hearts to reach out in love to all in need and in our circle or orbit and we must pray for God to unite our hearts to fear His name; and our labor is meant to build and do the work of Christ in the world.  The whole point of salvation is that God gives us a new heart to love Him and do His will in service.

Remember that true faith expresses itself!  The faith you have is the faith you show, someone has said.  Note that we are to love God with all our strength and this means putting our best foot forward and always doing our best for God's glory, with whatever bodily strength we can muster.   As Mother Teresa of Calcutta, now canonized, said:  Christ has no hands but ours, no feet but ours; and no heart like ours to share with the world in need.

Christians have problems with their spiritual bodies: they become hard of hearing spiritually and are not sensitive to God's will and mission; they become blind to things of the Spirit and need their eyes opened up as revealed in the Word--both ways they become callous to fulfilling their calling in life and using their gifts and all the resources God has granted them and will hold them accountable for.  We are to walk by faith, not by sight nor feeling and this can only be done a proper focus on the way God reveals His will to us.

I would be remiss not to mention that the only sin against the body is sexual immorality, not getting fat!  In the final analysis, we all need to admit we have feet of clay (flaws not readily apparent) and constantly need the eyes of our hearts and understanding to be enlightened by God's Word.  In sum, we are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices (cf. Rom. 12:1) unto God (for we all died and our life is hidden in Christ, cf. Col 3:3)--i.e., living for Him, His glory, and will.    Soli Deo Gloria!

He That Is Spiritual

Lewis Sperry Chafer, founder and first chancellor of Dallas Theological Seminary (the largest Protestant seminary on earth) wrote a book in 1918, He That Is Spiritual, to delineate the so-called carnal Christian as contrasted with the so-called spiritual ones.  An unbeliever was called the natural man.  This dichotomy of believers is unbiblical and misleading.  Any Christian can become carnal by sin, and all he needs to do is to confess it per 1 John 1:9--carnality is no perpetual or permanent state.  We all live in a state of perpetual and progressive confession and repentance--the unrepentant person is not saved. John says that a Christian doesn't continue in sin, and this means he makes it his way of life, though he may live a defeated life, there is some life to his faith or it is dead faith producing no works, which cannot save.

The whole purpose of faith is to produce the workmanship of God, foreordained by God, that we should walk in it (cf. Eph. 2:10).  Spiritual believers are not those who go overboard or are fanatical or so-called Jesus freaks, but those who walk with God in the Spirit.  They are realizing their potential of the fruit of the Spirit, and of knowing the Lord.  The Christian life that is spiritual is one that enjoys fellowship with God and other believers.  All believers are exhorted to read the Bible, witness, and pray; not just the clergy.

The spiritual man has relinquished ownership and throne of his life to Christ, he has surrendered to the Lordship of Christ, and he lives the substituted or exchanged life with Christ living through him.  "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (cf. Gal. 2:20).  This can only be accomplished by a believer in sync with God's will, and willing to follow Jesus wherever he may lead. The spiritual man has learned the secret of "inhabitation," as opposed to "imitation."

The obedient Christian does these things and the only test of faith is obedience. A. W. Tozer, in I Call it Heresy!, says:  "The Lord will not save those whom He cannot command.  He will not divide His offices.  You cannot believe in a half-Christ.  We take Him for what He is --the anointed Saviour and Lord...."   We see our faith in action by our good works according to James.  Paul would say we see our good works by our faith.  They go hand in hand. In other words:  As Lutheran martyr, preacher, and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "Only he who believes is obedient, only he who is obedient believes."  (Note that it was by faith that Abraham obeyed, as written in Heb. 11:8.)   The ultimate result is the fruit of a changed life, not an ascetic or mystic one that parades or charades as spiritual.

The spiritual man is appraised of no one, because of the wisdom of God and, if we have the Spirit, we are spiritual.  The natural man cannot comprehend spiritual truth, for Satan has blinded his eyes.  We need the eyes of our hearts opened to see spiritual truths.  Some believers are more mature in the faith and know the Lord better, but all of them are spiritual.   There's no class system or caste system in Christianity, we are all brethren and one in Christ.   We should not idolize our fellow believers, even if they seem to be spiritual giants.  We should never try to give the impression we are more "spiritual" than other believers or have a holier-than-thou in attitude. By the same token, we shouldn't be intimidated by others and develop an inferiority complex.  Christ's church has no spiritual elite or privileged class, for God is no respecter of persons and shows no partiality (cf. Acts 10:34, Rom. 2:11).

We all have different gifts and we don't have anything the Lord has not given us (cf. 1 Cor. 4:7).  It is the Spirit that matters, not the gift that makes us spiritual.  In exercising one's gift, what matters is the spirit that he uses it in. Believers have no excuse not to understand Scripture, pray, and witness and should enjoy the fruits of fellowship and worship in the body, because they have the illuminating ministry of the Spirit.

We are all works in progress and improving from faith to faith (cf. Rom. 1:17); no one can claim to have "arrived" or to have met the goal and won the prize (cf. Phil. 3:13-14).  We are in the process of maturing in Christ, but it is the direction we are going that counts and is the test, while perfection is the standard (cf. Matt. 5:48).  We must bear fruit as proof of our faith, or it is bogus--no fruit means no faith, and ergo no salvation.  (Jesus said we shall know them by their fruits in Matt. 7:16.)  We can only find meaning, purpose, and fulfillment ultimately in Christ:  "There is a God-shaped blank, and only God can fill it." (old axiom).   Soli Deo Gloria!  

Developing Holy Habits

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles" (Hebrews 12:1).
"Direct my steps according to your word; let no sin rule over me" (Psalm 119:133).
 "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36).
"Sin will have no power over you, because you aren't under Law but under grace" (Romans 6:14).
 "They are slaves to whatever has mastered them"  (2 Pet. 2:19).
 "'I have the right to do anything,' you say--but not everything is beneficial.  'I have the right to do anything'--but I will not be mastered by anything"  (1 Cor. 6:12).

NON-BIBLICAL FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

"To fall into a habit is to begin to cease to be," as P. D. Ouspensky has said.
"Every good thought you think is contributing its share to the ultimate result of your life," says Grenville Kleiser.
"Habit with him was all the test of truth, 'It must be right: I've done it from my youth,'" quips George Crabbe.

Why are habits crucial?
"Sow a thought  ["As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," says Prov. 23:7; cf. Prov. 4:23], reap an act ["The soul of every act is thought," according to Robert Browning]; sow an act, reap a habit [there's a loss of self-control]; sow a habit, reap a character [We are the sum total of our thoughts]; sow a character, reap a destiny [salvation or damnation]."  It is that simple according to Charlie Riggs.  Peter said, "Whatever overpowers you, enslaves you" (2 Pet. 2:19; cf. Rom.6:16).  Sin is just like that:  it enslaves and alienates you [from God or from others].  We must "consider [our] ways" as Haggai says!  This suggests that the first step is to analyze our life.--"The unexamined life is not worth living," said Socrates.

Habits can develop into addictions if persisted in (even impulsive behaviors) and some things like drugs or coffee seem to be addictive by nature.  In those cases, one may need deliverance and the aid of other believers to intervene and intercede on your behalf.  This is why we need to nip the habit in the bud before it controls us:  it is alright if we control it!  (Cigarettes are a prime example (not a sin in themselves) and are also a medical problem that is aggravated by chemicals such as tar and nicotine.)

Having habits is like being programmed--we should be careful who is doing the programming and be aware of input error!  We are sometimes guilty of habitual behavior that is done without thinking too.  Habits may ultimately decide our eternal destiny, so we should judge them.  Some habits are just ingrained behavior due to repetition like sitting in the same seat where we feel comfortable, or taking the same way home, or going the same place and sometimes we find ourselves repeating the folly unconsciously--like when I go to the lounge instead of the laundry room, because I always go there.

Man is a creature of habit, it is said, and no one can claim to be without them. The issue is whether they are healthy or deleterious, and whether they interfere with our testimony or not. ("All things are permissible, but I will not be mastered by anything," says 1 Cor. 6:12b).   C. H. Spurgeon smoked and was asked when he would quit:  "When it became a problem."  When is that?  "When I smoke two at a time!"  There is some validity to his tongue-in-cheek remark:  The only time we need to worry about a habit is if it compromises or jeopardizes our witness to the world, or otherwise diminishes our character because most habits are fairly harmless.  Those who are married are often annoyed by the mannerisms, quirks, idiosyncrasies, and eccentricities of their mate:  Things like nail biting, procrastinating [never-ending to-do list], teeth grinding, negative thinking, potty mouth, or what-have-you.  Did the mate think he or she actually could change their mate?  Love in marriage is accepting the mate despite their faults--not demanding change.

God doesn't require us to clean up our act to become Christians.  We come as we are, but we don't stay that way.  We are changed from the inside out of all sinful habits.  It goes with coming clean and owning up to our failures, flaws, and shortcomings ( sins).  The fact is though, that God changes us and gives us the power to overcome our sin.  "He shall save His people from their sin."  God accepts us as we are and works on us "to do and to will according to His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13).  I believe that the Holy Spirit gives us the power to overcome our habits ("Cease striving and know that I am God," says Psalm 46:10) and develop good ones to replace them (it is a law of nature to abhor a vacuum!). Just taking them away would open the door for a worse fault or demon.  Don't replace one habit with a worse one!  Don't just clean house or turn over a new leaf, get the Lord's power to live in the Spirit.

Jesus had some "holy" habits (I'm not saying we need a longer to-do list, which would revert us to legalism like the Pharisees or known as the yoke of the Pharisees]:  he got up before dawn to pray, he gave thanks before eating, and he went to the synagogue every Sabbath to worship.  But he did not have the habit of washing his hands before eating, which drove the legalistic Pharisees nuts because he saw that as only an addendum or legalistic extension of the Mosaic Law.  He was probably known as Mr. Unclean.

It is good to have "holy" habits that develop into godliness and give God the opportunity to nurture our faith.  For me, reading the Bible is only natural and I wouldn't dream of not doing it on a daily basis.  Praying is also without ceasing as I keep the communication line open between me and my Maker.  I keep short accounts with Him and immediately confess all known sin according to 1 John 1:9 ("If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness").

One should study Brother Lawrence's book The Practice of the Presence of God to see how one can always be in fellowship with God, no matter what one is doing.  A word to the wise is sufficient:  Do not practice your piety before men, to be seen by them (per Matt. 6:1)--then you've had your reward.  To initiate godly habits one must simply take a leap of faith and just do it--try it, you will be rewarded!  And by all means don't ever get into the trap of thinking you have to do something (that is legalism)--the motive should be the unsatisfied one of love, not fear, i.e., that you want to!

To start the challenge of cultivating a "holy" habit, one should start with some goal or task that he or she believes he or she can faithfully execute.  It only takes a few days to develop a habit, so be careful what habits you are beginning.  It is a lot harder to break a habit than begin one.  We are known by our habits and we get set in a pattern or rut, you could say.  For me, the goal is to bow down to the Father first thing I wake up in the morning and thank Him and then offer my petitions for the day, of which are composed of my outstanding prayer requests and needs.  (I confess that I was brought up saying grace before eating, and hardly ever even remember to do it now as an adult, unless in company with other believers.  I just got out of the habit and don't remember anymore.)

I believe that God empowers us to break bad habits through the Holy Spirit.  We don't speak of quitting cigarette smoking, but being set free--viva la difference!  We want to give God the glory and learn to depend on His strength ("Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of Hosts," says Zech. 4:6).  Our attitude should always be to give God the credit to remember what Jesus said:  "Apart from Me you can do nothing"  (John 15:5).  If God wants us to quit, He will tell us when and all we have to be is obedient. It must be in His timing and we will be convicted by the Holy Spirit not accused or made to feel guilty by our friends or enemies.  He will give us the strength if it is His will.  It has to be in His timing, though.  It is not a matter of trying, but of trust.  It must be by faith that God gets the glory (Soli Deo Gloria! meaning to God alone be the glory).  Soli Deo Gloria!