2026 Physical Wellness Month

Honoring God Through Your Body:

Reclaiming the Body for God’s Glory

In the mid-19th century, a young man named William Gladstone, who would later become the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, was observed by a friend spending a significant portion of his meager income on high-quality food and basic physical exercise. When questioned why a man of such spiritual and intellectual leanings would dwell so much on his physical upkeep, Gladstone replied with a perspective that shocked his Victorian peers: “I am looking after the machinery. If the machinery breaks, the work of the Kingdom stops.”

In an era that often viewed the body as something to be ignored in favor of higher spiritual pursuits, Gladstone understood a vital biblical truth. He didn’t treat his body as a vanity project, but as essential equipment for his calling. He was countercultural not because he obsessed over his reflection, but because he respected his Creator enough to maintain the machinery he had been given.

Today, we face a different struggle. We often treat our bodies like rented cars, pushing them to the limit with stress, fueling them with convenience rather than nutrients, and assuming the spiritual parts of us remain unaffected.

This truth leads us to a pivotal question: If our bodies are not our own, how does that reality change the way we eat, work, and live? To answer this, we look at three scriptural pillars that redefine our physical existence.

I. The Body as a Sanctuary (1 Cor. 6:19-20)

The Apostle Paul stunned the believers in Corinth by relocating the presence of God. He didn’t point them toward a stone temple but toward their own skin and bone. Paul wrote: “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you... you are not your own.”

Honoring God begins with recognizing ownership. As J.I. Packer once noted, “Our bodies are not our own to do with as we like but are God’s to be used as He likes.” When we view our bodies as a spiritual temple, every choice, from the hours of sleep we take to the boundaries we set for purity, becomes an act of worship. We do not maintain our health to fit into a certain size; we maintain it to remain fit for the Master’s use.

II. The Heart as the Filter (Mark 7:19)

If the body is the temple, the heart is the inner court. In Mark 7:19, Jesus revolutionizes our understanding of purity by declaring all foods clean, shifting the burden of holiness from the stomach to the soul. He teaches us that what enters from the outside cannot defile us; rather, it is what proceeds from a neglected heart.

Honoring God through internal purity means realizing that spiritual wellness is an inside-out job. C.S. Lewis famously remarked, “God never meant man to be a purely spiritual creature... He likes matter. He invented it.” Therefore, we honor God when we stop using physical things (such as food or substances) to numb internal pain. When our hearts are pure, our appetites become ordered.

III. The Vocation as Worship (Col. 3:23)

Finally, honoring God with the body requires us to look at our hands and our to-do lists. Colossians 3:23 commands: “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.”

Our vocation is not just our career; it is the physical output of our lives. Whether you are typing at a desk, lifting crates in a warehouse, or rocking a crying infant, you are using your spiritual temple to execute the will of God on earth. As Dallas Willard observed, “The body is the first place of our ministry.” If we neglect our physical vitality, we diminish our capacity to serve heartily. When we work with excellence and integrity, our physical labor becomes a visible testimony of an invisible God.

The Call to Stewardship

We must reject the belief that our spiritual life is separate from our physical life. As St. Augustine reminds us, “The body is a temple, and a temple belongs to God.” To honor God with your body is to live in the tension of being a “living sacrifice” (Rom. 12:1)—daily offering your strength, your purity, and your labor back to the One who bought you with a price. This week, as you sit down to a meal, as you head to your workplace, or as you look in the mirror, remember the billboard of your life: You are His home. Use it for His glory!