Be Good to Your BodyНамуна

GOOD GIFTS

Consider this: If a friend gave me her car to use, I would take the very best care of it. Wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t you drive with both hands on the wheel, keep your eyes on the road, pay close attention to where you parked, make sure to give it the right kind of fuel, and keep it clean instead of letting junk pile up in the passenger seat?

Our bodies are kind of like that borrowed car: beautiful gifts from God, given to us as vehicles to carry out our callings during our short time on earth.

For that reason alone, we should take utmost care of our bodies. Not obsess over them. Not critique them or pick them apart or treat them as projects to fix. But care for them, steward them, because they are sacred gifts. Stewardship begins with a palms-up, surrendered-heart posture that says, “Everything I have is Yours, God.”

Let’s go back to the car example for a minute. I’m much more likely to let my own car get messy, drive it with a nearly empty tank, or put off that oil change, because when something is my own, there’s little to no accountability. But when it’s my friend’s car? I treat that car with the utmost respect, care, and concern. Not because I love the car, but because I love my friend and want to honor the gift she’s giving me. In other words, the gift is good, but it is not what is ultimately important to me. My relationship with the one who gave it to me is.

1 Peter 4:10 tells us, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” When we view our bodies as good gifts from God, given to us to fulfill our callings on this side of heaven, we are much more likely to care for our bodies appropriately, eschewing the extremes of idolatry and apathy. Not because we worship our bodies, but because we worship the One who gave them to us.

Lord, help me to see ways I tend to treat my body as a project to fix instead of a good, God-given gift. In what ways are you leading me to steward my body as a gift from You? I trust you to guide my every move. Amen.