Hi friend, this is Joni Eareckson Tada, and I am so glad that you have chosen to spend these couple of minutes with me. Because friend-to-friend, I just have to tell you what happened to me last Saturday afternoon. It had been a busy week and – you know how it is – I just wanted to head to Macy’s at the mall… check out the sales. So my girlfriend, Judy, and I, arrived at the mall, and before heading into the women’s department, we decided to stop outside of Macy’s at the coffee kiosk for a cinnamon scone and a cup of hot tea. Doesn’t that sound good? We got our stuff, headed for one of the little tables nearby… you know, they kind of set up things right there in the middle of the mall? I was sipping my tea and watching folks walk by, when I happened to look up to the wall above the escalator, and there was this huge banner (it had to be a full story high) and on it was written, “The body is a temple to attract worshippers.” I turned to Judy and said, “Would you look at that thing… look what that says!” It was a huge – you couldn’t miss it – advertisement for what was touted as the “best gym in America.” At the bottom of the banner, beneath photos of people on elliptical orbiters and treadmills, the advertisement stated simply, “It’s not fitness… it’s life.”
Now… we could have gone up and down that mall all day, in and out of all sorts of stores, and never found a more clear and revealing statement of what captures the imaginations of people these days: the body. It’s a temple to attract worshippers. I mean, it’s a religion… people are into their bodies like they’re into a religion. You go on Nutri-system… you dial that 1-800 number and for three easy payments, order the total gym… you watch your calories… you walk three times a day… join the local spa… schedule a skin peel… I don’t know… don’t just whiten your teeth, but do veneers… dye your eyebrows… get permanent lip-liner tattooed on you and you, too, can have a body that’ll attract worshippers.
All this said from the lady in the wheelchair sitting down paralyzed. Well, I’m not knocking well-toned bodies or walking every day or even whitening your teeth (I mean I’ll confess, I use Crest whitening strips every so often and I eat Lean Cuisines for lunch), it’s just that we are such religious people… and Americans have made not only an industry of it, but a religion out of fitness.
Oh, that we would religiously pursue spiritual disciplines like that – you know, disciplines that make our souls fit for life… strengthening, shaping our character, as we would our abs… putting a bridle on our tongues, as we would our appetites… brightening our attitudes as we would our teeth. Because when it comes to bodies, Romans 12 tells us, “In view of God’s mercy, we’ve got to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — for that’s our spiritual act of worship.” We are to worship God with our bodies; not make the body our god.
That advertisement banner in the mall did almost have one thing right, though. Where it said, “It’s not fitness; it’s life?” Well, if you’re talking about spiritual fitness, it is life. Like the apostle says in 1 Corinthians 9, we are working toward a crown that will last forever. Therefore, do not run like men running aimlessly or fight like a man beating the air – “No, I beat my body and make it my slave” (it’s not your God; it’s just your slave)… because none of us wants to be “… disqualified for the prize,” as it says. So join me today in cultivating – I mean, seriously working on – those spiritual disciplines which will shape you for life: life here, and life for eternity. It’ll be your spiritual act of worship… and it’ll ensure that crown that’ll last forever.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 91376
© Joni and Friends