The Body is More Important

My body is important

Noticed something for the first time today in Matthew 6:25. Jesus says, “Is not . . . the body more important than clothes?” (my emphasis). Jesus Himself is actually calling my body important. Never really thought about that before. In verse 33, He promises to provide for it. When He walked this earth, He spent much of His ministry healing physical bodies. Sounds as if our bodies matter to Him, as if He has a special affection and purpose for them.

I know the Bible tells us that we’re created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27). But God is a spirit, so I’ve always spiritualized that idea. I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the possibility that my physical body somehow represents God.

Rebelling against my culture

As a young Christian, there were times when I was absolutely dogmatic about the unimportance of the body. I’d seen the idolatrous way many believers were bowing down to the god of appearance and I’d gone to the opposite extreme.

Well, not quite all the way to the opposite extreme. I still showered and washed my clothes. I didn’t wear rags everywhere I went. But I chose a less-than-fashionable, easy-care hairstyle and inexpensive outfits. I gave up on makeup, and I went through one period when I no longer shaved my legs even though I wore shorts in the hottest weather. Here in America, that seemed pretty radical. It made me feel holier than the Christian women around me who spent hours doing their hair and faces, and big bucks financing their wardrobes.

Have I ever mentioned that pride is one of my greatest spiritual challenges?

If I’d been honest with myself, I would have had to admit that my response to America’s insane emphasis on appearance is actually more nerdy than spiritual. I’d probably overreact to it just as much even if I wasn’t a Christian.

I don’t really get fashion. My style has always been more practical than pretty. And it doesn’t help that my proportions aren’t what they’re supposed to be for a woman. I’ve got wide shoulders, a long body, and short legs. The latest fads usually look all wrong on me. (Think shoulder pads.)

The negative impact of my church

It also didn’t help that the youth pastors in my church chose the most popular, best-looking students for leadership positions. Not the ones most dedicated to Jesus. The pastors’ hearts were in the right place. They thought that the attractive kids would be more likely to bring large numbers of friends to our youth group. More souls saved. But they weren’t following a biblical model.

Where are those formerly popular kids now? Most of them are experiencing the effects of shallow roots and choking weeds (Matthew 13:3-23). Few of them are still professing their faith. Almost all of them are divorced or have live-in lovers, suffer from poor relationships with their adult children, and appear cynical and unhappy.

They’d had their reward many long years ago in the attention given to them by the youth pastors, rather than storing up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:1-21). I didn’t know it at the time, but all through high school they were leading double lives. They put on an appearance of obedience while filling important roles within our group, but when no one was looking they were rebelling against God’s commandments in their lifestyles.

I was deeply dedicated to Jesus as a teenage baby Christian. But within my church, I was a nobody. The youth pastors snubbed me in favor of the good-looking kids. The pain that I experienced in my church as a new believer was a powerful factor in turning me away from a biblical view of my body.

My body is a temple

But Jesus tells me that my body is important. Paul even says that it’s a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). Sounds mind-bogglingly important when you put it that way.

As I try to grasp this incredible concept, two aspects of the temple come to mind. The first one has always been emphasized by evangelicals: The demand to keep God’s temple pure. During my high school years, this idea was used to support all the rules on how to live. Don’t smoke, don’t have sex outside of marriage, don’t do drugs, don’t get drunk, and so on.

That’s one way that our bodies are important. They should reflect the purity and holiness of God.

But the body is more important than those don’ts. We should also be reflecting His image in our positive behaviors. Treating others with love and kindness and respect. Reaching out to those who are hurting. Being peacemakers. It takes a physical body to feed others with the spiritual fruit growing inside us. By placing all the emphasis on the negatives, my youth pastors failed me in this area, too. They didn’t have, and therefore couldn’t pass on to me, a biblical view of the body.

The second aspect of the temple relates to its physical design. In the Old Testament, God gave David and Solomon detailed instructions on how to build a temple filled with beauty (see “Joy From Sorrow”).

Humans everywhere demonstrate a desire to make their bodies look better. We have a natural tendency to decorate, to bring beauty, to everything within our reach. Just as God does. He wasn’t content to create a practical but plain or ugly universe. By His very nature, He dressed it up in loveliness. We’re imitating Him, acting as His image-bearers, when we care for and decorate our bodies.

So maybe it's okay to wear a little makeup and jewelry and to spend some time choosing outfits that look good on me. Maybe I’m simply enhancing my body as God enhanced His universe. Taking delight in creativity and beauty, as He does.

The challenge is to treat my body as a temple, a dwelling place for the Creator of this vast and beautiful universe, without turning it into an idol. To value it as something important and precious in His sight, but to seek God first and to worship Him alone.

 

Walking, Running, Soaring, Dancing

 Running

“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1).

“Run in such a way as to get the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:24).

These are the verses I often hear when someone is teaching about following Jesus. Run. Use all your energy. Push yourself. Anything less would be slacking off. Show your excitement and enthusiasm.

Most of the time that admonition just makes me feel discouraged and hopeless. I’m not often capable of running. I look back on my life and see my own slowness, especially during times of suffering. If life is a race, I’m like one of those marathon runners who struggles over the finish line hours after the winners have all gone home.

I tend to think that my negative reaction to the preaching and teaching about running is mostly based on my low energy level. But then I turn to God’s Word and realize that my gut feeling about slowing down as we follow Him has a lot of biblical support.

Walking

God walked in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:8). He promised to walk among His people if they remained faithful to Him (Leviticus 26:12). He describes His followers as walking with Him (e.g. Genesis 5:22, 6:9), commands His people to walk in His ways (e.g. Deuteronomy 5:33, 1 John 1:7), and promises them blessings when they do (1Kings 3:14).

Why do we stress the verses that say to run and practically ignore the idea of walking? Maybe we’re simply imitating the culture around us. A culture that tells us to go for the gusto, break free from all our shackles, make an exuberant bucket list and check off every item one by one. A culture that no longer values patience and persistence.

Jesus refers to running in many ways, but never as an illustration for following Him. He describes pagans as running after the wrong things (Matthew 6:32). He assures us that those who know Him will run away from a false shepherd (John 10:5). He warns us about running after those who claim to come in His name, but who don’t actually know Him (Luke 17:23). John urges his readers to continue in Jesus’ teaching, rather than running ahead (2 John 9).

Obviously, running in itself isn’t wrong, or Paul wouldn’t encourage us to do it. Maybe the problem lies in our tendency to lose control or go our own way once we get our momentum up. It’s harder to follow God’s minute-by-minute leading when we’re moving too fast. Harder to avoid an obstacle or turn a sudden corner. Easier to crash. And more deadly when we do.

Soaring

Many years ago, I heard a sermon on Isaiah 40:31, “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Prior to that morning, every lesson I’d ever heard on this verse stressed renewal, soaring, running, no weariness, no fainting.

That teaching appealed to me. I desperately wanted all those blessings, especially during my first depressive episode, when I had very little physical or emotional strength. I treasured this promise for the hope it provided.

But this sermon broke the usual mold. This time the pastor stressed that we all have different experiences at different times in our lives. Sometimes we’re soaring and sometimes we’re running. But there are also times when all we can do is walk. God promises to be with us and help us even then. I liked this pastor’s approach. He had a heart for those who were hurting.

I have some negative thoughts related to walking, though. When I hear that word “persevering,” my mind doesn’t leap to Hebrews 12:1 and envision the joy of running freely. Instead, my mental image tends to be one of trudging along, painfully grinding through my trials, dragging my feet, putting up with whatever’s happening, but longing for things to get better.

Dancing

I want to run, I want to soar, right now. I want to dance, as David did before the ark of God (2 Samuel 6:14). I want the exhilaration that comes with running and soaring and dancing. But I have to stop and ask myself: Am I seeking God? Or am I seeking that exhilaration? Am I just looking for an emotional experience? Or do I long for the true joy of the Spirit, which cannot be manufactured by my own efforts but grows like fruit as I walk with Him?

I’d like to think that even when my body is struggling to make it through the day, my spirit can still be active. I can run and soar and dance on the inside. Sometimes that happens, but not very often.

When I’m physically weary, my mind also slows down. And my spirit. I have a hard time focusing on God’s promises and His character and the amazing things He’s done for me throughout my new life. Prayer takes an extra effort. He keeps me from fainting, and there are occasional breakthroughs when my spirit soars in spite of Satan’s attacks. But I’m usually just crawling along, even on the inside.

Waiting

There are also times when He asks us to stand still. Several psalms talk about waiting on the Lord, as in Psalm 37:7, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.” Isaiah says, “Blessed are all who wait for him” (verse 30:18). Some translations use the word “wait,” rather than “hope,” in Isaiah 40:31 (above). The waiting comes before the soaring and running. It even seems to be a condition for being able to soar on wings like eagles, to run and not grow weary, and to walk without fainting.

Father, help me to wait when I need to, and to follow You step by slow step when I’d much rather break free and run. Help me to take those steps with joy, rather than trudging along gloomily. Help me to resist the world’s view that my life should be one of constant, excited motion. And please, oh please, let me dance.