Its now January otherwise known as the month of New Years Resolutions! I see manifestations of resolutions in action everywhere from the traffic line on Peachtree road leading into church to the required advance signup list for spin class on Wednesday night.
The top five new years resolutions for women according to www.topcultured.com are as follows: exercise more, lose weight, eat healthier, be happier, and reduce stress. Recognize any of yours on the list? Also, do you notice a pattern as to the most popular things women want to change? Three of the top five goals are directly related to health and wellness and all five are indirectly related. This list, however, may not tell the whole story for you.
As a Christian woman many of your goals probably also center around the spiritual arena. Some examples are to begin or enhance a daily quiet time, become more involved in your church and other habits that support a strong spiritual walk. You also probably look at these lists of goals as two totally different types of goals. There is the spiritual goals box, the physical goals box and the financial goals section. For example, there are the essential goals such as praying and relying on God, the essential financials goals such as getting out of debt and paying bills, and then there are the “nice to haves” such as taking care of your body with regular exercise or taking off unhealthy and crippling excess body fat.
The fact that we often look at physical goals as “extras” and afterthoughts may be related to the fact that losing weight and regular exercise are on the perennial “top five resolution” list! Chances are, these physical goals or similar ones show up on your list yearly as well and you may or may not have made any progress with them. May I propose the humble suggestion that the reason we never get anywhere with these goals is because we don’t take them seriously and consider them essential parts of our daily activity.
Now, let me just make it clear that I am not suggesting that the gym is more important than praying or keeping a roof over your kids heads! But let me ask if you ever considered that God wants you to take care of your body? Secondly, have you ever considered the fact that your physical health directly impacts how well and how often you accomplish your other desired habits.
Consider the following verses and their application to taking care of your body from Dale Fletcher founder of the Faith and Health Connection. Hopefully, after reading these you will consider your physical goals and their relative importance in a new light!
It Glorifies God
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10:31 that whatever we do we’re to do it to the glory of God. It also tells us in Isaiah that we were created and formed by God to glorify Him. This is our primary purpose in life - to glorify God. We do that when we care for our body and live a healthy lifestyle.
Our Body is God’s Temple and for Us to Care For
One scripture that reminds us that our body is God’s temple is 1 Corinthians 19-20. God’s Holy Spirit lives inside a believer. After we accept Jesus into heart, God gives us His Spirit to help us live the kind of life He wants us to live. Since God actually lives in us, Paul tells us in this verse that our body is His temple. Since God “bought” us with a high price, Jesus’ death, than we are obligated to care for our body which is His temple.
Being Healthy is Being a Good Witness
Acts 1:8 reminds us that we are to be witnesses for other people. People look for us to be models of the Christian faith. We ought to desire to live our lives in a way that represents our faith well. Taking care of our health is one way that we can be a good witness.
You’ll Have More Energy to Do God’s Work
Ephesians 2:10 helps us see that we are God’s masterpiece, created to do the good things that He had planned a long time ago for us to do. We all know that the more fit and healthy we are the more energy we will have. The more energy that we have, the more we can put into whatever task we are doing. We’ll also be better able to sustain ourself for the long haul.
Specifically, I am talking about the belief that the pursuit of athletic goals is for the young. You only have to think about the last time you were with a group of friends wistfully remembering their “glory days” of high school football, or pee wee soccer to know what I mean. Groups of adults reminiscing about the good old days when they were at their athletic peak, the possibilities seemed limitless, and that they could conquer the world.
