Why God Wants You to Get in Shape - Daily Hope with Rick Warren - October 1, 2018
Why God Wants You to Get in Shape
By Rick Warren
“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).
Have you ever heard the word sanctification? It’s really just a big theological word that means to dedicate something for God’s purpose. You can sanctify anything. You can say, “God, I sanctify this car. I dedicate it to you for your purposes. God, I sanctify this home. I dedicate it to you for your purposes.”
God says in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 that there’s something he wants you to dedicate to him: your body. “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” (NLT).
How do you do that? How do you honor God with your body?
It’s simple: You take care of it.
“Sanctify your body” basically means “get in shape.” If you want God to use you, you’ve got to get in shape. Because the better shape you are in, the more energy you’ll have and the more God can use you.
Psalm 119:73 says, “You made my body, Lord; now give me sense to heed your laws” (TLB). God set up the principles of good health. He doesn’t just want you to have a pure heart. He wants your body to be in shape so he can use you more effectively.
Maybe you aren’t getting enough sleep. But God can’t use somebody who’s tired all the time. You need to get proper rest. Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is to take a nap!
Perhaps you need to work on the food factor. In 1 Corinthians 6:13, the Bible compares overeating to sexual immorality. You might never think of cheating on your spouse, but God says that these are all sins against the body. God is serious about wanting you to control what you eat!
It’s possible you have the wrong attitude toward your body. You neglect it, you reject it (“God, I want a different one!”), or you perfect it (the way a narcissistic bodybuilder worships his body). Instead, God wants you to respect your body and protect it. Why? Because God created it, Jesus paid for it, and the Holy Spirit lives in it.
So what’s our motivation to get in shape? The Bible says, “All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize” (1 Corinthians 9:25 NLT).Our motivation is we want to please God. Athletes get in shape just to win an award. But you will have an eternal reward! You will be rewarded in heaven because you made the most of what you were given, because you took care of your body so that God could use you more effectively here on Earth.
PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >>
For more Daily Hope with Rick Warren, please visit pastorrick.com!
The Purpose Driven Live: What on Earth am I Here For?
Discover the secret to a successful life!
God wants you to live your life in the way he designed it to be lived.
He wants you to know what works best in your relationships, at work, with your health—and how to maintain peace and balance in your life.
We want to help you do that by sending you a copy of Pastor Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life: What On Earth Am I Here For. It’s our gift thank you for your donation today.
This valuable resource can help you:
• Understand how much God loves you
• Believe that God wants you to succeed
• Embrace the meaning and purpose of your life
• Prepare you for eternity
Request your copy of The Purpose Driven Life: What On Earth Am I Here For when you give below to help more people worldwide find daily hope in Jesus.
May it help you move from a life of mere survival to a life of significance—the life you were meant to live!
This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
You can listen to Rick Warren on OnePlace.com.
