Caring for the Body: Why It Matters and How to Do It

Take care of your body, it is the only place you live – Jim Rohn

Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live. – Jim Rohn

That is a quote that reminds us of the importance of caring for the body.

Each of us may be born with different physical conditions or body types. For example, some people naturally eat very little yet remain overweight. But there are also people who stay thin even though they eat a lot. Because of this, many people simply resign themselves to their body condition and no longer strive to care for their bodies. 

Is it in accordance with God's will if we simply give up and no longer care about the body God has entrusted to us? Let us see what God's Word says about this. 

Our Body Is the Temple of God

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who dwells in you, whom you have received from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought, and the price has been fully paid. Therefore glorify God with your body – 1 Corinthians 6;19-20 

This verse may be very familiar to us. What first comes to mind when you read this verse? Perhaps we might think that this verse speaks about how we maintain the purity of our body, which is the temple of God.

That is true, agreed. However, more broadly, this verse also speaks about how we care for and look after our body. 

In this verse it is written that our body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the place where the Holy Spirit dwells. If we read in 2 Chronicles 3, the Temple of God that Solomon built was very magnificent, made of choice wood and overlaid with gold and precious stones. Solomon made this Temple of God so beautiful and majestic, because it was the place where God dwelt. 

If Solomon built and cared for it with such beauty, what should our attitude be toward our body, which is also the Temple of the Holy Spirit? Our body does not belong to us, but to God. Of course, we must care for it well and use it for the glory of God. 

How Do We Care for the Body?

This new year, what are your goals for yourself? Some of us may set goals like wanting to diet, wanting to live healthy, wanting to have an ideal body weight. This is the right time to begin. The question is, how?

There are many ways to care for the body, including the following: 

1. Diet

Are you struggling with your health ? For example, you feel that your weight is already excessive, such as being overweight or obese. Or your doctor has advised you to diet because of the illness you suffer from. If so, dieting is one appropriate solution. 

According to the Cambridge, there are several definitions of diet. However, so that there is no misunderstanding, let us first align our understanding of diet. The diet meant here is, an eating plan in which someone eats less food, or only particular types of food, because they want to become thinner or for medical reasons. 

Which means, an eating plan in which someone consumes less food, or only certain foods, because they want to become thinner or for medical reasons. 

Diet is one way to guard and care for the body. Why? Because the goal of dieting is not merely to look more pleasing to the eye (aesthetically), but more about its benefits. 

Diet and Obesity

Let us take obesity as an example. According to a source in 2021, 1 in 3 Indonesian adults experienced obesity. In 2017, 19.1% of Indonesians experienced obesity. And in 2018, this obesity rate increased to 35.4%, nearly doubling within a span of 11 years. Therefore, caring for the body through dieting is something we must take seriously.

Did you know obesity has many harmful effects? Among them are: 

• • twice the risk of coronary heart attack, stroke, and diabetes mellitus
  • three times the risk of gallstones
  • risk of breathing obstruction during sleep
  • high risk of causing cancer
  • risk of increasing blood fat and uric acid
  • resulting in decreased reproductive fertility.

For no one ever hates his own body, but nourishes and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church. – Ephesians 5:29

By dieting, we show love for ourselves and for the people you love. Because if we experience obesity, our lives may be shorter, with many illnesses coming upon us. 

Obesity can make us unable to function normally and easily fall sick. Even if we are the breadwinner of the family, an unhealthy body can make us unable to support ourselves and family. 

Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, where the Holy Spirit lives, so we need to care for it. One way is through diet. God wants you to be healthy and able to enjoy the life and blessings He has prepared for you

2. A Lifestyle That Aligns with God's Will & Is Healthy

Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the king's food and with the wine the king drank; he asked the chief official for permission so that he would not have to defile himself. – Daniel 1:8 (TB)  

Daniel was a Jew who experienced exile in Babylon, and he was one of the officials there. We do not know exactly what kind of food was served to the palace officials there. It may have included foods that were non-halal for the Jewish people. It may also have been food that had been offered to the gods of Babylon. 

So, what did Daniel consume? In Daniel 1:12 it says, “please let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.”

Yet Daniel chose not to follow a lifestyle that did not align with God's will. And the result was that those who did not eat and drink the king's food looked better and were healthier than those who ate the king's food. Daniel chose a lifestyle in accordance with God's will. And certainly, that lifestyle was a healthy lifestyle.

What kind of lifestyle does not align with God's will? Smoking, drinking alcohol, and staying up late are lifestyles that do not align with God's will. Anything that brings a bad effect certainly does not align with God's will. 

Let us practice a healthy lifestyle, a lifestyle that aligns with God's will, such as exercising, getting enough sleep and not staying up too late, getting sunlight, eating healthy food, not smoking, not drinking alcohol, etc. 

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever else you do, do it all for the glory of God. – 1 Corinthians 10:31

3. Maintaining Your Appearance

But the LORD said to Samuel: "Do not look at his appearance or at his tall stature, for I have rejected him. What man sees is not what God sees; man looks at what is before the eyes, but the LORD looks at the heart." – 1 Samuel 16:7

As human beings, perhaps we might feel, “Ah, God sees the heart, not the physical. Not the appearance. 

Imagine that you want to share about your faith with someone who does not yet know the truth while looking like this: yellow teeth because you rarely brush them, messy hair, sleepy eyes with discharge, wrinkled clothes that have not been ironed, and a body that smells because you rarely bathe. How would you convince that person to remain in the truth? It may even be that person becomes afraid to follow God because they fear ending up in the same condition as you. 

As believers, it does not mean that because the most important things are the heart and faith, we do not care about appearance. If we can present ourselves better, why not? However, this also does not mean appearance is everything. There is no need to spend your whole salary, undergo plastic surgery, or even go into credit card debt here and there with all your salary gone just for appearance. 

There is no need to always follow the latest trends or wear luxurious clothes and jewelry. As long as you are neat and clean, that is enough.  

Maintaining your appearance gives us many benefits. Besides sharing faith and truth God's Word to others more convincingly, you will also naturally feel more confident. Other people feel comfortable and trust you. It is very possible that people will be interested in doing business with you and inviting you to work together.

Maintaining your appearance is your way of valuing your body, God's creation. Because when you maintain your appearance, other people will automatically value and respect you as well. And God will also shine through you. 

God always wants the best for your life. All His commands are purely for your good and for all of us. Not one of them is given to limit your happiness and pleasure, but He wants what is best for us. 

Let us nurture, care for, guard, and love our body, which is God's temple, where the Holy Spirit dwells within it. But do not do it only to satisfy our desires (Romans 13:14), but to glorify God and become a blessing to others!

References: http://p2ptm.kemkes.go.id/infographic-p2ptm/obesitas/apa-saja-bahaya-obesitas-bagi-kesehatan www.antaranews.com/berita/2026173/kemenkes-obesitas-di-indonesia-kian-meningkat www.dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/diet www.quotefancy.com/quote/757690/Jim-Rohn-Take-care-of-your-body-It-s-the-only-place-you-have-to-live -  Related Articles:

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• A Woman Who Is Beautiful in God's Eyes
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