#projectC61920 Day 2: Physical Character

The first section of this project will deal primarily with creating, sustaining, and developing healthy, Christian physical habits. The over-time result of this will be personal physical disciplines, then eventually physical character traits becoming of a Christian.

You may be asking yourself “what is physical character?” Physical character could be thought of like physical loyalty, or physical integrity. They are things we do physically (or abstain from doing) because of our principles and convictions, whether or not they are already habitual.

Take eating for example: When given the option of eating a sweet snack or a healthy one, we often simultaneously feel an obligation to eat one and avoid the other. Our preexisting eating habits can make this choice easier or harder. If we typically don’t restrain ourselves from eating unhealthy foods, the pull to continue that behavior will be strong. If, on the other hand, we practice habits of self-control, moderation, and a correct perspective of who we are and what our bodies are meant for, we can more easily overcome the moment of temptation. I say more easily, because temptation will always be an element of life, especially when Satan knows exactly what has worked against us in the past.

It is this understanding of who we are and what our bodies are meant for that I want to focus on today. For this, let’s step back to our central verse:

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. ~I Corinthians 6:19-20

Phrases like “your body is a temple”, “you are not your own”, and “glorify God in your body” should stick out here.

As Christians, we agree with the Bible when it says that our bodies have an identity: a temple. A temple of the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is in us, then should we not give Him a place to dwell worthy of who He is? Now, if I take this from a worldly perspective and look in the mirror and say to myself “that sure doesn’t look like much of a ‘temple’ to me!” I will only be insulting my Creator. The Scripture does not say “your body could be a temple of the Holy Spirit…if you went to the gym and put down the cookies once in a while…” It says, “your body is a temple.” As a Christian, your body is a temple whether you have made it a welcoming place for Him or not. If we allow ourselves to meditate and absorb this truth and let it manifest in our daily walk, it will make it easier for us to begin changing our behaviors, which will make habits that become disciplines, and so forth.

The passage also says “you are not your own…you have been bought” So really, what we do or don’t do to and with our bodies isn’t really for us to say, is it? This is repeated similarly for married couples in the next chapter in Corinthians:

The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. ~ 1 Corinthians 7:4

Even if we were not purchased through the blood of Christ, we would still have to deal with not being the final say on our own bodies if we’re married. Men, this means you need to ensure that you’re taking care of your body for your wife; think about your heart (the blood pumping muscle, not the metaphorical seat of the emotions): how’s your cholesterol? Do you smoke? Do you do any kind of cardiovascular exercise? Heart disease is a real thing for men especially.

Let’s get real deep, men. Do you keep yourself only for your wife? Do you ensure your members are for her pleasure only, and not even for yourself? Keep Romans 6:13 in mind (yeah, it actually uses the term “members”). Are you keeping your eyes where they should be? Pornography is a drug, and it easily ensnares men into addiction.

Ladies, this can be a delicate topic for you as well. The world system is designed to make you question your validity if you don’t look like the woman on the cover of Cosmopolitan Magazine. But consider this: you only have to concern yourself with being attractive to one man: your husband. Are you keeping your body only for your husband? Are you learning his favorite makeup on you (or lack of)? Are you listening to (or better yet, asking!) what he likes best about your body and thinking of ways you can capitalize or emphasize those things for him? It could be the way you walk, talk, move, or even play together. IF you don’t know, ask. And if you do know, get on it! Just remember that your value as a person cannot come from any person, even your spouse. Know who you are and what your worth by asking God in His Scriptures.

“But what if I’m not married?” you ask… take care of your body for your future husband or wife. Men, create habits now that keep you healthy and able to do the physical things that your future wife may not be able to do (like lift heavy objects and work in a physically demanding vocation). Ensure your health allows you to be around for a good long life in order to take care of your family. Women, remember that modesty is always more attractive. A woman who shows a lot of meat will only attract dogs.  Your milkshake might bring the boys to the yard, but God designed you to bring a man of God home to meet your parents…

Finally, remember to glorify God in your body. This is done by remembering that our bodies are gifts from Him and tools for His purposes. He may have you become a laborer in the field, or go into labor in order to raise Godly children. God’s glory is shown in those who rely on Him for their identity.

Some steps for practical physical character development:

1.       Get a grip on where you stand physically by asking yourself these questions:

·         Am I healthy? Are my weight, physical abilities, and/or physical resilience where they need to be?

·         Do I have any habits (smoking/chemical addictions, overeating, laziness) that are not making my body a welcoming temple for the Holy Spirit?

2.       Come up with a plan to address your issues:

·         WRITE DOWN your goals, and then write down steps to get to those goals.

·         Have a spiritual mentor review and pray with you about those plans.

·         Commit to those plans, and pray for God’s grace to achieve them.

3.       Get accountability

·         Get a gym buddy that won’t let you slack.

·         Sign up for AA (or other addiction recovery group) meetings.

·         Have an online community that will encourage you.

Keep strong in the struggle and fix your eyes on the goal.

#walkwithme

#projectC61920 Day 1: Intro
So this is day one of #projectC61920. As an introduction, I wanted to overview the four main aspects of the project: physical, spiritual, mental, and social.

First, there's the obvious physical factor of an individual person's health. In the focusing passage, Paul reminds us that our bodies or a temple of the Holy Spirit. This implies that great care and maintenance should be taken and exercised on the physical bodies that God has given us. As with developing and maintaining anything that should last our whole lives, discipline is going to be a major factor. Discipline comes from habits observed over time. Habits become disciplines, disciplines become elements of our character. And just like the military conducts regular, rigorous physical training as a habit, it eventually becomes a personal discipline of most, if not all, service members. Will get into personal physical disciplines very soon.

Second, there is the spiritual aspect of health. As stated before, there will be habits to develop, thus resulting in disciplines and eventually character traits. If you only exercise your muscles, you're only taking care of the physical part of yourself. But when you exercise religious practices, those habits become disciplines, and eventually become part of the person that we are in Christ. Again, more about spiritual disciplines to come.

Third, you may be tempted to think that the mental aspect would simply feed into the spiritual aspect since much of the spiritual aspect involves how we think about God, the Bible, and our own religion in general. Actually, the mental state of a person is not relegated only to spiritual thoughts, but our entire thought process and mental capacity. Consider questions like "I know the Bible is true, but how do I process the truth that it provides?" Consider further, what is the mind of Christ like? We know that the thoughts of the Father are not our thoughts, as his ways are not our ways. We need to be aware of the thought processes that we have, and evaluate them against the truth of Scripture.

Lastly, there is the social aspect of our being. How do we interact with each other? What is the importance of church, friends, family, and other relationships? How are we to conduct ourselves in these relationships? Do we know the difference between a friendship, a marriage, and family? Is there a difference at all? We will begin to answer these and more questions as the days go forward.

In closing, remember that this is a journey. A journey involves a starting place, a path, and destination. Even with a map, we can never really tell exactly what the destination is going to look like, nor the path to get there.there will be missed steps, wrong paths taken, and lessons learned. But there will also be victories, long stretches, and waypoints to be reached and celebrated. So get your Bible, get your water, get your thinking cap, and get your friends and family involved. Because the Christian journey is never meant for one person to figure out alone or with no guidance.

#walkwithme

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”
‭‭Hebrews ‭12:1‬ ‭NASB‬‬

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
‭‭Romans ‭12:1-2‬ ‭NASB‬‬


Grace and Peace,

Joseph Kilbreth