If you’ve been a Christian for quite a while, you’re probably already familiar with this line: “Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.” This famous line is from a passage in the Bible written by Paul for the Christians in Corinth.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20

In this passage, Paul was talking about keeping ourselves sexually pure because God bought us with a price and our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Because of this, Paul challenged all believers to “glorify God in our body.”

Indeed, glorifying God with our body means keeping ourselves free from sexual sins. (If the sexual struggle is too real for you, this article might help you.)

But honoring God with our body means so much more than just guarding our sexual purity. This can extend to many different areas of our physical well-being, knowing that God values our physical body so much that He “bought it with a price.”

We are not our own. While pop culture says, “My body, my rules,” the Scriptures tell us that we are not our own. The things we have, including our own body, were entrusted to us by God to fulfill His purpose. God owns us because He created us and gave life to our body. And for us, Christians, God reinforced this ownership when He bought us with a price through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

This means that we must consider God, our Creator and Redeemer, in the things that we do, the things we spend our energy on, and the way we treat our physical body.

One part affects the whole

The prophet Elijah came to one of the lowest points in his life when his situation forced him to flee and live in the desert. His situation was so depressing that he even asked God to end his life. But God responded to him by addressing his physical needs first.

And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.”

1 Kings 19:5‭–7

While there is no doubt that taking care of our spirit is important, taking care of our physical body is also of value.

The way that we take care of our bodies can affect our mental, relational, and spiritual health as every aspect of our well-being supplements each other. In order for us to be at our best, we are to take a holistic approach with our well-being.

How do we take care of our physical well-being?

We must first recognize that we are a product of our own habits. The things we tolerate and reject in our regular routines shape our lives.

This doesn’t just apply spiritually, but also physically. You might have read a lot of articles about taking care of your body, so here are some areas in your routines that you can assess when it comes to your physical well-being:

1. Personal Space and Schedule

Doing school at home is a challenge almost every student faces these days. Finishing school work, taking care of household chores, and doing personal care in the same environment sounds daunting.

One way to address this is to recreate your physical space according to your schedule. If you have space at home, you can choose to assign different areas for work and rest. You can also assign different gadgets for school and recreation. But if you have limited space and resources, proper scheduling of your tasks is a great help.

At the end of the day, it boils down to our personal discipline to focus on our tasks, resisting distractions, and setting up time for rest and relaxation. More of this can be found here.

2. Eating Habits

As people say, “You are what you eat.” What this means is that the food we eat actually affects our mental and emotional state, which eventually affects our relationships, behavior, and the quality of our work.

However, we also know that eating is one of the most convenient ways to relieve stress. And with mobile applications that make ordering online easier, it’s tempting to buy whatever our stomach craves at any time of the day. On the other hand, the same stress due to busyness sometimes takes away our time to take meal breaks during the day. Both of these can compromise our physical health. Honoring God with our body includes being mindful of our eating schedule, as well as our food intake.

And oh, always remember: Stay hydrated.

3. Sleeping Pattern

You’ve probably heard of the phrase, “Sleep is for the weak.” But the reality is that having no sleep makes you weak.

Sleeping restores your body’s strength and prevents you from getting sick. A well-rested body always works better than an overworked one, so don’t rob your body of its opportunity to get recharged and refreshed. Get the recommended number of hours of sleep in a day, and don’t wait until you’re tired or sleepy before going to bed.

4. Physical Activity

Home quarantine has significantly reduced our body movements. It has taken away our commute, walking up the stairs in school (shoutout to the 5th floor gang!), carrying our bags, and doing extracurricular activities. But the body also needs to move in order to get rid of unwanted toxins in our body and to prevent injuries.

Try to start doing home workouts that fit your body condition and needs. Ask your friends to keep you accountable with your workout routines and progress, and make sure to move your furniture to the side to avoid unnecessary billings.

5. Proper Hygiene

Taking a bath and brushing your teeth are probably two of the most overlooked tasks at this time. Memes tell us that some students are comfortable attending classes without taking a bath—Hindi naman maaamoy, eh! Sometimes, even adults are guilty of this. (Hehe.)

Practicing proper hygiene is just beneficial for us and also for the people around us. Taking a bath, brushing our teeth, and applying some skin care products don’t take too much time. We can all fit it in the middle of our busy schedules.

6. Regular Checkups

It’s not normal in our culture to do regular physical check-ups, but the pandemic exposed the need to constantly check what’s really going on inside our bodies. It may sound costly and time-consuming at first, but having regular checkups is better than a sudden trip to the doctor. Setting a time to get yourself checked gives you an opportunity to make the necessary adjustments to your habits as early as possible.

We take care of our bodies not only so that we can be fit and healthy, but also because this is an act of worship to God. By treating our physical bodies well, we can fulfill His purpose in our lives. 

Hopefully, after reading this, you were encouraged to make some changes to your habits. May we always choose to glorify God with our body.