Jesus Changes Our Bodies

So the title should probably read ‘ Jesus changes how we view, honor, and treat our bodies’ but that’s just too long and not as catchy. Ha!

A couple weeks ago in the post about how Jesus Changes Our Prayers, Praises & Meditations, I shared:

Jesus changed everything when the veil (or curtain of the temple) got ripped in two. And then Jesus made everything even better when He gave us the Holy Spirit to dwell within us! Not just near us, but IN US! This is how we can refer to our bodies as ‘His temple’. But that’s for a later post. 😉 And guess what, now we all can have radiant faces like Moses when we look to Him! (see Psalm 34:5)

Libby Myrin

So thanks to all Easter encompasses and all Jesus did for us on the cross, worship now happens in our bodies rather than in a holy temple. Our bodies are now such holy temples through which we worship. These beautiful bodies are not to be worshipped but to be places of worship. We are called to worship our Creator, not His creation.

Ah yet our culture sure likes to get us confused and shift our focus. From fitness trends to food diets to anti-aging to wholistic health, it is so easy to be consumed by the information and guidance our world throws our way. And don’t get me wrong, these things just listed are not wrong in and of themselves. They can be valuable and helpful to living a long life of love. Well, except anti-aging . . . that’s just ridiculous and false advertising! But what really matters is our worship. And if any aspect of our bodies is getting more attention in our thoughts and actions than the things of the world, we have a worship issue.

Jesus came to set us free! Not to enslave us with a need to keep up an external image and a pursuit of believing our value is determined by our appearance.

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

I samuel 16:7

I come from a long line of appearance-based critics. It breaks my heart how both my grandmothers have spent their final years critiquing their own appearances, signs of aging and body size. Pretty sure every family holiday gathering involved an evaluation of our shape, size, and skin health. Yet I’m afraid my experience is the norm and one condoned by our culture and the things of this world. I once told my grandmother that I don’t believe Jesus cares what she weighs in her 85th year of life. She scoffed and said, ‘well I’m not sure about that.’

Bless what our culture (and its marketing and money) has done to our poor souls. I spent many years on that hamster wheel, and even fell off a few times tragically thanks to unhealthy lifestyles in attempt to not gain weight. I know the worst of it because I myself have fallen into the lies of the worst of it. Yet Jesus changes everything!

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Psalm 139:14

I realize the word ‘fearfully’ might be confusing in this context so let’s clarify something. This use of ‘fearfully’ is the same used when saying we fear the Lord. It is not a ‘scared of’ fear but a ‘sacred’ fear. It is the state of being in awe of the majesty and power of our Creator who created each of us. Your body is uniquely designed by our Heavenly Father specifically for your unique purpose. Do you believe that?

It’s hard to believe that our bodies are good. So let’s stop and say a little prayer together:

Heavenly Father, thank you for my body. You call it good and beautiful and lovely just as it is. Thank you for each limb and lump, each hand and my heart. My body isn’t perfect and has plenty of struggles, but I also know this body is temporary. Forgive me for being critical of Your creation. Help me forgive those who have spoken, acted, and harmed my body in a way that doesn’t align with Your beautiful design. Help me believe what you say is true about Your temple. Most importantly, thank you for living in me and loving me from the inside out. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I know that full well. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

Now I’ve got a few more verses to drive this ideal home. In First and Second Corinthians, Paul really gets fired up about our bodies being a temple. Now please don’t read these passages as judgmental, condemning statements to make you feel guilty about your view or treatment of your body. I’m referencing these scripture passages out of heartache and passion to empower you to love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, soul, mind, and strength or body.

I spent too many years loving the Lord with the first three but keeping my body for myself and the world. He wants ALL of us and lives within our bodies! And we need each other. We need each individual, unique body to come together in such a healthy and holy way that His glory can’t be denied!

Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys His this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by the this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise.

I Corinthians 3:16-18

Or didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.

I Corinthians 6:19-20 MSG

And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. And God said: ‘I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God and they will be my people.’

2 Corinthains 6:16

This last verse references Leviticus 26:12 when the Israelites were on a journey to the freedom of His promised land. This passage applied then to the Israelites, and then to the Corinthians, and now to us in this present age. Because the Lord desires our freedom and wants us to worship and live so freely that the world can’t help but rejoice in Him! So how does a barre workout or exercise in general apply to this? What about what you eat and drink and how much you sleep? Don’t get caught up by the do’s and don’t’s and counting and tracking of this world. Focus on freedom and living a life of love. We move our bodies in love and worship through a workout so we can love well! We fuel our bodies well so we can be ready and able to freely serve as the Spirit leads. (I Cor 10:31)

Because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom! (2 Cor 3:17) And His Spirit dwells in you! (I Cor 3:16). Because Jesus changes everything!