It Is Well

When I started working for the church, I joined the denominational health plan. And with that health plan comes a health tracking program, an online wellness program to help me be more healthy. We have workout and accountability groups. I have daily tidbits of knowledge about my body, daily reminders to move and care for my body.

In the course of disseminating all of this information and the resulting discussions in our groups, I have noticed two divergent paths of thinking when it comes to the minding of Christian bodies. Either the belief is that we are spirit, and therefore, we don’t have to care for our physical bodies, or our bodies are temples to the almighty God, and that how we care for our bodies is a reflection of the depth of our faith.

These perspectives are vastly different and equally toxic. Jesus Christ was a heavenly being who took on human form. We refer to that as incarnation—God becoming man. Focusing on just the physical aspect of our human existence is limiting. As humans, we have spiritual as well as emotional/mental components. The health of all three should be considered.

Hebrews 10:4-5 says, “For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God, ‘You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer’” (NLT).

Christ was both fully God and fully man. He walked miles of dusty roads and probably got blisters from his sandals, probably hit his thumb with a hammer, got thirsty, hungry, and tired. Christ felt those bodily limitations, the same limitations we have.

As an adjunct professor of human biology, I know how intricate and amazing the human body is made. From our fingerprints to our DNA, we are fearfully, wonderfully, and uniquely made. we are each a design unlike any other in creation, and we are all miracles. We know so much more about the human body now than the psalmist did thousands of years ago, but he/she was equally amazed: “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it” (Ps. 139:13-14 NLT).

When we care for this body that we have been given, even in small ways like brushing our teeth or shampooing our hair, we are in a very real sense pushing back at death. If I don’t brush my teeth, they decay and rot. Brushing them restores health, brightness, and longevity. Exercise, routine medical screenings, and healthy food can all push back death and bring life and vitality.

To care well for my body allows me to serve God, and to serve God as well as I can for as long as I can. To quote John Wesley, “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”

Wholehearted living also involves caring well for my heart. Proverbs 14:30 says, “A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones” (NLT). Thoughtfully creating boundaries to keep ourselves mentally and emotionally healthy, having a therapeutic relationship with a counselor, and spending time with activities and people who bring us joy are all ways we can care for our inner selves.

The final piece of wholehearted living is the spiritual life. When we have a personal relationship with Jesus, when we grow in our faith, and when we are living in communion with God, we are made new. The people of the early churches were reminded of that in Galatians, when Paul writes, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20 NLT).

God came to earth in human form so that we can live wholehearted into the life he created us to live.

Annie Carlson is rooted like a turnip to the plains of North Dakota where she raises great food, large numbers of farm animals, and three free-range kids with her husband. You can find her with either a book or knitting needles in her hands as she dreams up her next adventure.