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Some of us need to take better care of our bodies. Others are watching theirs slowly give out. There’s a word from the Father for both men. Let’s go! 5-min, 2-sec read.

Listen to the audio version here:

I turned 60 in May, and it was the first birthday that really made me stop and take notice.

In my head, I'm still 29. My body keeps sending me memos telling me otherwise. I used to enjoy running, and by running I mean jogging. Nobody was ever mistaking me for an Olympian. These days, my back and knees have informed me that my running career is over.

I still try to take care of myself. I work out four or five days a week and eat pretty well, unless you put ice cream or chips and salsa in front of me. Sleep is another story. I wake up in the middle of the night far more often than I'd like.

I'm guessing a lot of you know exactly what I mean.

We've been talking about stewardship in the newsletter this week. My money, my time, my abilities, my opportunities. None of them really belong to me. They were given to me by the Father and entrusted to me for a time, for His glory.

So I've been thinking about another question.

Why would my body be any different?

You Are Not Your Own

Paul said something to the Corinthians that I've read many times, though I don't think I've often considered it through the lens of stewardship.

Paul is speaking specifically about sexual immorality, but the truth underneath his instruction is even bigger.

You are not your own.

That includes the body you're sitting in as you read this.

Every physical act of obedience the Father asks of you will be carried out through the body He gave you.

For most of my life, I've thought about my body primarily in terms of what I wanted from it. I wanted it to look a certain way, feel a certain way, and do what I told it to do.

Stewardship asks something different:

Father, what do You want to do through this body, and am I keeping it available to You?

I'm not trying to make it impressive. I'm trying to keep it available.

What Stewardship Actually Looks Like

This is where the idea has to become real, because it's easy to agree that our bodies belong to God and then live exactly as we did before.

I know what poor stewardship looks like because I've lived it.

After the fire at Wendell August, I gave the business everything I had. Six and seven days a week. Ten and twelve-hour days. My family lived eleven hours away, and I made that drive every few weeks.

I told myself I had no choice, and maybe I didn't have many. But I was exhausted. I wasn't the husband or dad I needed to be because I wasn't home enough, and eventually I wasn't firing on all cylinders at work either.

I got sick constantly during those years.

My body was sending me the bill, and I kept telling it I was too busy to pay.

Maybe your version isn't work. Maybe it's the food you know you shouldn't keep eating, the drinking that's become more regular than you'd like to admit, the doctor's appointment you've postponed for a year, or the sleep you keep sacrificing because there is always one more thing to do.

Maybe you've spent years saying, "It's my body. If I want to run it into the ground, that's my business."

Except it isn't.

A steward doesn't get to neglect what belongs to someone else.

For some of us, stewardship might mean losing 20 pounds. For another man, it might mean finally getting a physical. Maybe it's walking every morning, getting more sleep, cutting back on alcohol, dealing with stress differently, or actually resting one day a week.

None of this is about becoming obsessed with our bodies. Paul reminds us that physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things (1 Timothy 4:8).

Our bodies make terrible gods. But they are still gifts from God.

We don't care for our bodies because we worship them. We care for them because we worship the One who gave them to us.

When Your Body Is Giving Out

There's another brother I especially want to talk to.

You may be reading this wishing your biggest problem was needing to lose 20 pounds. You've taken care of your body, and it's still failing you.

Cancer showed up. Parkinson's is taking things you once did without thinking. Your heart isn't working like it used to. Maybe the legs that carried you everywhere now require a cane, a walker, or someone else's arm.

Brother, a weakening body is not evidence of failed stewardship.

And it does not mean the Father is finished with you.

Paul understood suffering in his body better than most of us ever will, yet he wrote:

The outer man may be growing weaker while the inner man grows stronger.

At 40, stewardship might mean building strength. At 60, it might mean changing habits you've ignored for years. At 80, it may mean accepting limitations you never wanted and receiving help you never imagined needing.

Your usefulness to the Father was never measured by how much you could lift, how many miles you could run, how many hours you could work, or how much you could produce.

You are His son.

That hasn't changed.

And unlike a world desperately trying to outrun aging, we know something wonderful is coming. We await Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body (Philippians 3:21).

These bodies weren't made to last forever.

We were.

Offer Him the Body You Have Today

Maybe there's one thing you already know the Father is asking you to change. Don't make a twelve-point plan this weekend. Start with that one thing.

Make the appointment. Take the walk. Go to bed. Put down what is beginning to master you. Accept the help you've been too proud to receive.

And if your body is giving out, offer that body too. Maybe your assignment has changed. Maybe you can't go and do as much anymore, but you can pray like never before. You can encourage a younger man. You can tell your grandchildren about Jesus. You can finish this race, showing the men behind you what it looks like to trust the Father all the way to the finish line.

Whatever strength you have left, whether it's a lot or a little, it still belongs to Him.

So tomorrow morning, when your feet hit the floor, and something hurts that didn't hurt yesterday, remember whose body it is.

Father, this body belongs to You. Thank You for every day You've given me. Help me care for it without worshiping it, accept its limitations without resenting them, and use whatever strength I have today for Your glory. Until You call me home, it's Yours. Amen.

-Will

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