Stewarding Your Body for Spiritual Health

In God’s wisdom, this world allows for a myriad of good combinations. My favorite: chocolate and peanut butter. Only a monster wouldn’t like the creamy, chocolatey, nutty marriage of these two great friends. You can eat chocolate, and it tastes good. You can eat peanut butter, and it tastes good. But only when combined do the elements transform into something great.

I’m embarrassed to say I’ve given years of thought to the magnificent pairing of peanut butter and chocolate. Like, a lot of thought. I could fill this entire article, but that wouldn’t be very helpful. So, let’s shift focus to another combo that has come into view for me more recently.

The incredible intersection between spiritual and physical discipline

Like many of you, in my younger years, I’ve been physically strong while being spiritually weak. And as I grew in age and maturity, I became spiritually stronger but physically weaker. And it wasn’t until the last five years that I gained a keen appreciation for the interconnection between the two, especially as it pertains to pastoral ministry. Along with peanut butter and chocolate, I’d love to talk to you at length about this. Instead, let’s consider five ways physical discipline impacts spiritual health. 

Body stewardship glorifies God

Okay, this one is obvious. We all know body stewardship glorifies God, yet we don’t always live it out. I hate to say it, but pastoral ministry functions in a context where physical discipline fades into the background. I’m not shaming any of us; it’s just a reality of church work. Ministry keeps us busy. We must be up early; we often get to bed late and live on the run. It leaves little room for exercise and a lot of room for fast, less nutritious food. And if you serve in youth ministry, these effects are likely tripled (Doing student ministry in the mid-nineties, I ate a lot of greasy pizza at The Cadillac Diner in Owensboro, KY.).

Nevertheless, body stewardship does glorify God, even if it’s hard or inconvenient. We find here a special need to live out the blazing center of our faith: a desire to magnify the glory of our God, who made us embodied souls and took on flesh to redeem us. By His will, He made our bodies to be in motion (1 Cor 6:19-20). Have you noticed that when you start a new activity regimen, your body eggs you on to keep it up? It’s like our bodies know physical exertion and discipline are good and right and pleasing to God. Thus, the glory of God provides the proper motivation to get moving and stay moving (1 Cor 10:31).

Physical discipline begets discipline in other areas

A surprising benefit of body stewardship surfaced for me. I noticed physical discipline begets spiritual discipline (and vice versa). It’s the peanut butter and chocolate effect. Physical and spiritual disciplines fuel each other (1 Tim 4:8, 1 Cor 9:24-27). 

A few years ago, I slipped into some alternate universe where I began to enjoy long-distance running. I never knew such a place existed, but it does. I began to enjoy the solitude of my thoughts and prayers, the podcasts and audiobooks, and the many improvements to my health. But beyond these pleasant changes, I found the spiritual benefits even more pleasant. The routine of focused effort toward my running goals (form, pace, distance) translated into cheerful energy to add a similar discipline to my spiritual and ministry life. Why was that? Here are a few reasons I can see:

1. My eagerness to continue reaching my exercise goals required me to adopt an ordered and efficient schedule. It helped me redeem some of the time I wasted on unimportant interests (Eph 5:15-16). And I picked up some helpful work habits to better use my energy and ministry hours.

2. The health improvements which came through body stewardship increased my stamina in all other areas of life. It was true: working my body to exhaustion increased my overall energy, which has been nice. Thus, I gained additional energy for reading and praying.

3. My enjoyment of the running routine fueled my interest in developing better routines in ministry. I learned how to use Trello, an organizational app. I started doing the basic time-blocking thing all the productivity gurus talk about. 

 Body Stewardship promotes mental clarity 

Anyone who listens to my sermons may debate this point. I’m convinced physical discipline improves mental clarity. A short time after I incorporated better nutrition and exercise into my life, I saw an improvement in focus, productivity, energy, and mood. This combined to make my ministry and work more effective and joyful. Prominent medical doctors like Peter Attia have determined that exercise not only (apparently) extends our lifespans but also prevents cognitive decline better than other treatments.¹ Given all that Scripture says about the mind, I can think of few more valuable gains than mental clarity, and a longer stretch of cognitive health to boot. Certainly, we recognize with sadness there are a number of cognitive illnesses and challenges we may develop over time or through any number of injuries (2 Cor 4:16-18). With or without such challenges, we should do all we can to maintain clear thinking, which the Bible calls sober-mindedness (2 Timothy 1:7). Physical discipline—like diet and exercise—significantly contributes to mental clarity. And this motivates us to engage in healthier habits with pastoral purpose.

Physical discipline increases your energy for ministry

So, how are you holding up in ministry these days? In particular, how do you feel about the energy you have to spend on the Lord, His people, and His purposes? We have much working against us in this fallen world, and our energy level might be where we feel it most. 

As creatures, we need to rest to restore our energy output. But have you thought physical discipline is vital in cultivating vitality and vigor? For the longest time, it didn’t make sense to me.

How can spending energy give me energy? I suppose it’s a bit like handling finances; it takes spending money to make money.

Physically, it takes spending energy to produce energy. Here’s another solid reason to increase our energy output through exercise. Sure, we’ll be tired after a workout, but science and experience show a wealth of renewed energy levels await us. We also know the interconnection between body and soul means our physical advances will yield improved energy for spiritual advancements, too. Even small changes can make a big difference (Gal 6:9).

Caring for the body sets an example for others 

No one would question that pastors should strive forward as good examples to those within and outside their churches. Though imperfect and needing constant help and grace, we have been called examples of conduct in both body and spirit. It’s true that every person is responsible for their own decisions about life and health, and pastors are not responsible for how others do or do not live. Yet, it is also true that shepherds have incredible influence as those to whom the sheep look for cues and motivation (1 Tim 4:12). 

We pastors naturally take our spiritual cues quite seriously. We aim to be examples to the believers regarding spiritual disciplines of Bible reading, prayer, evangelism, personal discipleship, and other means of godly conduct. But sometimes, our cues regarding physical discipline fall into the periphery. Here’s a key question: What cues of physical discipline are coming from you to your congregation (Matt 5:16)? Is the flock picking up (or at least seeing in action) some positive habits of both your physical and spiritual life?

I regret to admit that seasons of my pastoral ministry have illustrated the old adage, “Do as I say, not as I do.” Ouch. It hurts to see those words on the screen, but they’re true. For many of us pastors, the part of life that lags behind this standard is the bodily part. You and I need to keep moving into the place of sincerity, where the examples we set in both word and deed can be trusted and emulated. Even small gains in our habits of physical discipline can translate into big gains in our churches (Titus 2:7-8).

Conclusion

So here’s to making some changes together because body stewardship does hold a meaningful place in our lives as believers and pastors. Though we may have fallen short in the past, we can strive forward, living out the basic principles presented here. I know making these kinds of changes can seem daunting, but we and our churches need them so we can grow even more happily into the calling God has given us and those we serve. 

Questions for Reflection:

1. What cues of physical discipline are coming through from your example to your congregation?

2. How have you experienced the interconnection between physical and spiritual disciplines in your own life, and how can we, as pastors, foster a consistent and faithful connection between them?

3. What small steps can you take this month to practice better body stewardship, knowing it plays an important role in your spiritual and pastoral vitality and vigor? 

© 2023 Rush Witt. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

1. Attia, Peter. Outlive. Penguin Random House USA, 2023. I used the language of “apparent” longevity of lifespan because I believe God has appointed our days, and I still think it’s valid to speak about living a long, healthy life. ↩︎