Forgotten Temples
Pretend you and I are standing at the starting line of a marathon. We’re full of nervous energy; we’ve trained and feel reasonably confident we can finish the race, but who knows what will happen. Slowly, a group forms as runners finish warming up; they join us at the starting line. The official checks his gun. Our muscles tense as we wait for the shot.
What would you think if in that moment I pulled out backpacks filled with weights and said, “Let’s put these on”? You would tell me I was crazy! Why would we make the difficult task of running a marathon even harder? It’s a ridiculous picture, but the irony is that we do this to ourselves all the time by how we treat our bodies.
Some of the smartest and most gifted people I’ve met work in games, yet many act as if their minds and bodies are completely independent. Their minds are in great shape, but their bodies—not so much. To act as if our minds and bodies exist in isolated silos doesn’t align with reality. God has intimately woven our mind, body, and soul together, and how you treat one directly impacts the others.
Paul understood this when he penned his first letter to the Corinthian church.
“Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”
— 1 Corinthians 9:25-27
Paul knew that how he stewarded his body directly affected his calling. He would not allow his bodily cravings to control him or disqualify him. He was intentional and purposeful in every aspect of his mission, including how he oversaw and trained his body.
I understand how we end up in this disconnected state, though. It’s easy to get ourselves divorced from our bodies in our modern world.
In high school, I had a friend who was shredded. He could eat anything (and everything) and never gain a pound. I remember thinking, how unfair. Today, he is a professional trainer and eats super clean, but at the time, he couldn’t have cared less about nutrition because he held a winning ticket in the genetic lottery. I didn’t quite have my friend’s genetics, but I played sports, worked out, and stayed active, so I could eat some junk and still be in reasonable shape. But that doesn’t last forever.
In my late twenties and early thirties, I had a growing family and a growing business. I worked day and night, chained to a computer. In my mind, I was still that fit, active college student, but that was no longer my reality. Somewhere along the way, I had started believing the lie that I didn’t have time for exercise because of my busy schedule. Working out just wasn’t as important as providing for the family and making sure the bills were paid.
On top of that, my coping mechanism for the massive stress and poor sleep was to find comfort in food and drink, especially late at night—a one- or two-AM burrito or burger run became routine. A little late-night snack can give you a couple-hour work boost until you crash at three or four. Needless to say, I was in an unhealthy season, and by my mid-thirties, I found myself in “dad bod” territory.
At the tail end of my thirties, things began to change, though. God showed me a picture of an incredible garden and asked me to tend it. Near the front of the garden, I found these vibrant roses that captivated me. Soon, I started pouring all my energy and attention into helping them grow big and beautiful. With time, my efforts paid off, and one day God checked in. I showed him the roses. He told me they were beautiful and praised my efforts. I felt great. It was a “well done, good and faithful servant” type of moment. But then God did something I wasn’t expecting; He asked how the rest of the garden was going.
The rest of the garden?
The rest of the garden was a disaster; I had completely forgotten about it. The roses had consumed my entire focus and blinded me to everything else the Lord had entrusted to me. Maybe you can relate? I think many of us “creative types” can easily be guilty of this behavior.
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.”
For Christians, stewarding our bodies is more than maximizing the quality and length of life—but those should certainly be on our minds. For people with sedentary lifestyles, like game developers, who spend much of the day in front of screens, the science is clear: it harms health and longevity. That means we need to be more intentional and perhaps need to put in extra work than those in more active careers. But beyond those considerations, stewarding our bodies as sons and daughters of God takes on added weight and dimension because God’s Spirit lives inside us. Our bodies are His temple. I forgot that truth for a season, and His temple fell into neglect, until the Lord graciously reminded me.
I don’t know what state your temple is in, but I want to encourage you: you can get things in order, and when you do, you will be so glad. Most people don’t know how good they can feel. I certainly had forgotten. After receiving that vision, I rededicated myself to exercise and improving my diet and for the past six years, I’ve stayed committed, and I feel great! Not only that, but I think more clearly, have more energy, have better endurance and resilience, and while I’m not quite where I want to be in terms of my BMI (yet), I’m stronger than I’ve ever been.
So, if the Lord helped me make a change, I’m confident He can help you make a change too. Let’s make our bodies places the Holy Spirit is happy to call home.
