A Plan for My Health

Caleb Suko

As the New Year begins it’s common for many people to set goals concerning their health and fitness. I like to go to the gym myself and I always notice lots of new people coming in January. They have high hopes for the new year and for their body goals.

Unfortunately statistics say that over 80% of those resolution maker gym goers will quit before the end of January!

“Research conducted by Strava using over 800 million user-logged activities in 2019 predicts the day most people are likely to give up on their New Year’s Resolution is January 19. (Strava calls it ‘Quitter’s Day.’ Source

In a way this is sad and I think it shows us the human condition. We all fail ourselves more often than we’d like to admit. None of us really live up to the standard that we have set for ourselves.

Sadly social media can easily make us feel guilt when we compare ourselves with ideal bodies and smiling faces we see on our Instagram feed. Unfortunately this influence not only produces a feeling of guilt but also can easily distort our perspective on our own bodies. Additionally, the millions of photos of fit, toned, sculpted, lean bodies often give the false assumption that a thinner, more muscular, you is a happier you. We can easily begin to feel unsatisfied with our own bodies and believe that if we could just reach that weight goal, or increase the size our biceps, then we too could enjoy the happiness that we see on the faces of all those social media fitness stars. These are lies that many millions believe.

So rather than turning to social media stars and unhealthy expectations of fitness and health. Let’s turn to the Bible to see God’s perspective on how we should care for our bodies. God’s Word has much to say about our health and our bodies. It can correct the distortion caused by our society and it can motivate us in ways that are far more powerful than simple resolutions and goal keeping.

In order to gain a balanced perspective let’s look first at four warnings the Bible gives us about things we ought to avoid doing with our bodies. Next, we will look at four truths concerning our bodies that can help us to have a right attitude and successfully plan for our health and fitness.

Things we should not do in our body

When it comes to our health and fitness our greatest enemy is often ourself. Millions struggle daily with unhealthy habits and addictions that destroy their bodies and put them in a vicious circle of habitual harm and self destructive behavior. The Bible is clear that these unhealthy behaviors do not please God.

Self-harm

Deuteronomy 14:1–2 NIV — 1 You are the children of the LORD your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead, 2 for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession.

“Mourning and cultic practices sometimes included lacerating oneself (see 1 Kings 18:28; jer 16:6, 41:5). This may have been done to attract a god’s attention, ward off the spirits of the dead or demonstrate greater grief than simply wailing.”

These were self destructive actions taken because of grief and/or as a way of getting attention. We may not have the traditional practice of self mutilation but unfortunately, things like cutting and extreme body modifications have become very popular around the world.

Michel faro do prado was an ordinary looking Brazilian before he started modifying himself. First tattoos, then horns, then he blackened his eyes, he gave himself tusks in place of teeth, a split tongue, then he removed most of his nose and his ears.

Certainly his case is extreme but we must think of what we are doing with our bodies. Is it pleasing to God or is it pleasing to the Devil. Are we promoting health and honoring God’s creation or are we destroying God’s creation?

Another area that we see this kind of self abuse is through cutting and acts of self-harm. In the last 15–20 years the number of people engaging in self-harm has drastically risen. Some estimate that nearly a quarter of all youth have done some sort of self-harm.

When we think about it the reasons for this kind of a thing are really not so different than they were in ancient times. People self-harm because of mental pain and anguish which could be caused by many things. The loss of someone, feelings of guilt, anger, broken relationships, unmet expectations, etc…

As you plan for your health this year please carefully evaluate your attitude and actions toward your own body. If you are given to self-harm then you must seriously take this matter to God! He can help you and give you a renewed outlook on yourself and change your negative feelings toward your own body. The truth of God’s Word rescues us from such destructive habits and gives us hope!

Alcohol/drug abuse

Proverbs 20:1 NIV — 1 Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise. (Prov 23:29–35)

While the Bible teaches that there can be a proper and disciplined use of alcoholic drinks such as wine. We must recognize that like all good things, this is a danger to our bodies when we abuse it.

Unfortunately, abuse of alcohol and drunkenness is a huge problem in nearly every society around the world. God’s Word shows us over and over again that drunkenness is a sin that leads to greater sins. It’s a sin that leads to addiction and enslavement. As Christians our lives must not be controlled by alcohol or other substances such as drugs that keep us enslaved to addiction and alter our mental state, keeping us from sober and rational thought.

As you plan for your health this year you may need to evaluate your relationship to alcohol.

Proverbs 23:31–32 NIV — 31 Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! 32 In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper.

Do you find yourself in places where others drink too much and invite you to do the same? Plan to avoid those places and those people. Do you find yourself tempted to use alcohol as a means to relieve mental pain? Learn to turn to God in your pain and turn to god’s people as well

Food abuse

Proverbs 23:1–3, 20–21 NIV — 1 When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you, 2 and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony. 3 Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive. … 20 Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, 21 for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.

You may choose to completely avoid alcohol and so keep yourself from its dangers. However, you can not abstain from food. Again, we know that food is a good thing, God created us with an appetite for food. God provides us with nourishment and he gives us the ability to enjoy the pleasure of eating. Yet, as with all things good and healthy we can abuse it and turn what is healthy into something unhealthy and destructive.

People tend to abuse food when one or both of the following happen.

1. We look for joy and satisfaction in food

Our heart is deceived into thinking that food will bring comfort, joy, or satisfaction that only God can bring. Thus it says in Prov 23:2 “That food is deceptive”

2. We lack the Christian self-disciple and allow food to master over us.

1 Corinthians 6:12 NIV — 12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say — but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything” — but I will not be mastered by anything.

And this brings us to the fourth thing that the Bible warns us about doing in our bodies.

Sexual sin

1 Corinthians 6:13 NIV — 13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

Sexual sin is in a class of its own. Although it is done in the body it creates deep emotional and spiritual problems for those involved, not to mention the physical problems that can result from sexual activity outside of God’s design for sex within marriage only. As you plan for your health this year please plan for purity concerning your sex life. This will build a strong foundation physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Let’s read a few more verses to see what the Apostle Paul is really tell us here.

1 Corinthians 6:13–18 NIV — 13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.

Some in Paul’s day tried to justify their immoral sex life by saying, “Hey listen, it’s just a physical thing, there’s nothing spiritual going on when I have sex. This body is temporary, what’s really important is my spiritual relationship with God.”

Paul counters by telling them that God made our bodies and designed them to function in a certain way, with certain limitations. Furthermore, he reminds them that God will raise their body from the dead. Finally, he tells them that they are members of Christ’s body. You see in Christianity we understand that there is a connection between the spiritual and the physical. Even Christ when he died, suffered and died physically. Certainly, spiritual aspect of his death was greater but he did it bodily as well as spiritually.

We must never justify sins in the body and merely physical actions with no spiritual repercussions.

4 Principles to guide our planning

We can’t be all negative in our outlook, we must now turn to the positive, to those truths that guide us and push us forward in this life. Probably one of the greatest reasons why many people fail on their health and fitness resolutions is because they do not have the right truths as a motivation and foundation for what they have decided to do.

Be content with the way God made you

1 Timothy 6:6 NIV — 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.

Don’t make your joy dependent upon what you see in the mirror, make your joy dependent upon what God sees in your heart.

It’s ok to have certain health goals. Maybe you want to lose 10 kilos, maybe you want to gain 10 kilos. Maybe you want to get better at a certain sport. Those goals are fine, but whether you reach them or not, your contentment must be in God!

What does it mean to find contentment in God? It means I will stop comparing myself to that model or sports star. It means I will stop envying someone else’s face, eyes, skin, hair, muscles, or abs. It means I will find delight in God’s delight of me and how he made me. It means I will look to God in faith through Jesus Christ for my approval and not to social media likes, not to followers, not to photographs, and not to false beauty found in filters.

To find contentment in Jesus Christ is to relieve yourself of the pressure of this world to have a certain measurement, a particular hair color, or performance level. God has given you and me EVERYTHING we need in this life for godliness (2 Pet 1:3). When you believe that you will stop scrolling social media looking for an ideal and then trying to live up to it.

Why is contentment in God so vital for our health and fitness goals? Because without this contentment we will engage in an unwinnable battle with ourselves and with our culture. But with this contentment we can freely pursue those health goals knowing that our true contentment, our true joy, our true acceptance does not depend upon us meeting that goal!

What does contentment in our health and fitness goals look like? It means I pursue the strength of God’s Word and its application in my life before I pursue physical strength. It means I pursue the beauty of worship and the glory of God’s holiness before I pursue beauty products. It means I pursue the health of my relationships through Christian fellowship before I pursue my health through weight loss.

Realize that your body is on loan from God

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 NIV — 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

Imagine a young man taking a young woman out on a date. He goes to the house, knocks on the door and instead of the girl answering, her father answers. The father’s a big guy and he knows he could squash him. He also knows he loves his daughter.

The father says “What are you doing at my house?”

“I would like to take your daughter out.” the boy responds.

“Really?” he says, “And why should I let YOU take MY daughter out?”

“Well she’s really hot and I was hoping we could have sex.”

The door slams shut! He’s not taking that girl out! You see he wasn’t ready to respect the girl and in doing so, he didn’t respect the father. However, if we change things around there’s a chance that the boy could take the girl out.

If the boy had said:

“Listen sir, I know she’s your daughter and I know you love her so I’m going to take very good care of her. I’ll open every door, I’ll buy her dinner, I’ll keep my hands off her, and I’ll bring her home by 10:00pm.”

Now that would be a different story. You see, the boy recognized that the girl was still under the authority of her father and mother. By respecting her, he respects her parents. As we think of our own bodies we must think of ourselves under the authority of a father. He has given us a body to use but we will answer to him one day for how we use it.

This changes our perspective on how we use or abuse our bodies.

1. We will have to answer to God for how we treated our bodies

2. To mistreat the body, to run knowingly into sin with our bodies is disrespect to God who made our body and who owns our body.

We can honor the sacrifice of Christ by taking care of the body he has given us.

Use your body to glorify God

1 Corinthians 6:20 NIV — 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

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

As you make plans for your health and fitness it’s important to think about the ultimate goal. Unfortunately, often fitness plans tend to be very self centered and me focused.

“Do it for yourself” has become a popular motto in the fitness world. This is not a moto a Christian should have. Even when it comes to our health we must have a focus upon God, and others. In the end “Do it for yourself” will lead you down a path that leads to “selfie culture”

1. As you plan your health goals, think about how you can use your health to glorify God.

2. My health and physical abilities testify to God’s great design for the human body.

3. My health allows me to serve God, to serve others

4. My health allows me to care for may family

Remember that your body is temporary and your soul is eternal

1 Timothy 4:8–10 NIV — 8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 9 This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. 10 That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.

Paul seems to be familiar with physical training, even with sports. In several of his letters he refers to this kind of physical training. He even describes his life as analogous to a runner or a boxer who is training and working towards a goal.

Paul tells us that there is value in physical training.

1. Physical training helps produce disciple
2. Physical training can keep us health
3. Physical training can help us reach a physical goal
4. Physical training can help us succeed in sports and in certain work

Nevertheless, we must have the proper perspective. Physical training is limited by our bodies and by our time and resources. If you live long enough, one day physical training will look very different to you. One day physical training will no longer be possible. And when you die that physical training will not help you beyond the grave. On the other hand training in godliness is unlimited! It is not limited by any of these things that limit the benefits of physical training!

This is a perspective we must all keep. It doesn’t mean that there is no value in it or that we should not engage in it. Quite frankly, we should pursue our health and fitness out of honor to God and in order to prolong the time God has given us on earth. There is a healthy balance that we need to strike. In order to do that we must give priority to training in godliness, this type of training will never be useless. Paul tells us that it has value for life now and for eternity.

Questions to ask ourselves

1. Have I allowed social media and popular culture to distort my thoughts about my own body?
2. Do I have any unhealthy or sinful habits that I need to take care of this year?
3. Where am I currently looking for contentment? Have I found contentment in God?
4. Do I treat my body as on loan from God?
5. Do I give priority to training in godliness? How?