5 Ways to Honor God with Your Bod

Have you ever stopped to think about what an amazing gift our body is?  It truly is a miracle if you really stop and think about it.  God gave us this incredible body that can do mind boggling things.  But we often take this gift for granted. 

Think of your eye sight alone.  The eye consists of the retina, pupil, iris, cornea, lens and optic nerve.  It has 137 million light sensitive special cells that sends messages to the amazingly complicated brain.  About 130 million of these cells appear like tiny rods, and they handle the black and white vision.  The other seven million are cone shaped and allow us to see in color.   That alone is incredulous enough.  No designer of telescopes could have done a better job of designing the eye.  This is no accident.

God uniquely designed each and every one of us.  But yet, we take our body for granted.  We treat it poorly day in and day out.  We do this in so many ways. 

Our bodies were created to move.  There are approximately 640 muscles in the human body.  The main function of the muscular system is movement.  It is estimated that 60% of American adults are not regularly active and 25 percent of the adult population is not active at all.   Americans are increasingly becoming inactive and risking their health. 

Sitting has been coined the new smoking.  Martha Grogan, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic states, “For people who sit most of the day, their risk of heart attack is about the same as smoking.”   Our environment is set up for us to be sedentary.  We have to purposely build in time to move every day.  It can be as simple as going for a 20 minute walk, or taking the stairs every chance you get instead of the elevator.   As a society we are literally sitting ourselves to death.  Honor God by moving your body every single day. 

More than one-third of adults are considered to be obese and more than two-thirds of adults are overweight.  We are eating ourselves to death.  Obesity is a main contributing factor to diabetes and heart disease.  We are abusing the temple that God gave us by the over-consumption of food.  Food addiction is real and it is eating away at the health of our society.  

Obesity is now becoming an epidemic with our children too.  Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years.  In 2012, more than one-third of children were overweight or obese. 

God gave us everything we need to nourish our body.  He gave us plants, animals, fruits, nuts and seeds.  We are abusing our temple by eating man-made processed foods.  Let’s get back to eating the foods that God provided for us in their most natural state. 

Imagine if we started to treat our body as the temple it is.  1st Corinthians 6:19-20 states, “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.”   The better we take care of our body the better we will be able to take care of our spirit.

So how can we better take care of this miracle of a body that God gave us?  Here are 5 ways that we can honor God with our miraculous bod.

1.     Build in some type of movement every single day.  God created us to move.  Use motion as devotion.  When you do this you will be better off physically, emotionally and spiritually.  Consistency is always the Biblical pattern for success.  I am a big believer in doing some type of physical activity every day.  Go for a walk, ride your bike, lift weights, take a fitness class, play with your kids.  Anything to get you off the couch and moving again.  Its amazing how a little bit of movement can energize your mind, body and spirit. 

2.      Eat nutrient dense foods.   Nutrient density refers to a food which is relatively rich in nutrients for the number of calories it contains.  It’s getting the most bang for your buck so to speak.  Consume foods that nourish every cell in your body and leave you feeling satisfied and satiated.   Stop wasting money on processed foods that leave you with toxic hunger that lack the ability to provide the nutrients your body needs leaving you with limited energy and a body that is starving for good nutrition.

3.     Get proper rest.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention an estimated 50-70 million Americans have some type of sleep disorder.  Approximately 20% of Americans get less than six hours of sleep on average.  Sleep deprivation can wreak havoc on your body.  In fact, chronic sleep deprivation has similar effects on your body as type II diabetes.   This can lead to obesity and many other health issues.  On average an adult needs between 7-9 hours of sleep. 

4.     Manage stress.  In today’s world it is virtually impossible to avoid stress.  We live in a chaotic world where it is easy to get overwhelmed, anxious and stressed out.  We get so accustomed to carrying all of these heavy burdens on our shoulders it is like carrying a 50 pound backpack around all day every day.  This leads to being physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. 

Here are some stress management strategies:

·         Pray often

·         Open your heart and life to Jesus

·         Renew your mind with scripture

·         Focus on making a difference in other people’s lives

·         Exercise daily

·         Praise and worship Him regardless of your circumstances

·         Feed your body nutritious food

·         Get adequate rest

·         Manage your time wisely

·         Meditate on the Word of God

·         Manage stress with the Word of God

5.    Put God first in everything you do.  The focus on taking better care of God’s bod has to be on God first and foremost.   By building a personal and intimate relationship with God you will learn to lean on His strength to help you make healthy lifestyle changes.  One way to do this is to spend quiet time with the Lord every single day, preferably first thing in the morning.  I strongly believe this is the single most life changing thing you can ever do.  It certainly has transformed my heart and my life.  God is more important than anything else, and the sooner we learn this, the better shape we will be in spiritually, emotionally and physically. 

Our body is a miracle.  Let’s stop taking it for granted and start treating it as such.   If you are struggling in this area of taking care of God’s bod I have created a 10 week online course that will help you discover the connection between your physical and spiritual health.  Check out my 10 week course here and enter DIVINE for the coupon code for a 20% discount. 

I am here to help in any way I can.  Trying to make sustainable lifestyle changes can be very challenging especially when doing it by yourself.  Having a great coach in your corner to motivate, encourage and inspire you can go a long ways.  I work with a business and life coach myself and I wouldn’t be where I am today without her support. 

If you are ready to make 2018 your best year ever in mind, body and spirit I would love to be part of your tribe whether we work together in person or online.  It’s all about doing this together in community.  I can be reached at troy@troyismir.com.    I can’t wait to hear from you.

Troy Ismir, MS

Spiritual Warrior

Health Coach and Personal Trainer