As I was reading Through Gates of Splendor, (the
journey of five missionaries: Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Pete Fleming, Ed
McCully and Roger Youderian and “Operation Auca”) by Elizabeth Elliot,
something very odd and random stood out to me…
Elisabeth Elliot’s first husband, Jim Elliot, was a genius man loaded with talent and passion. But, confusing to those around him, during his college years he didn’t participate in many extracurricular activities—because he didn’t want to become preoccupied with nonessential things and miss the essential things in life. He was devoted to God’s Word and to prayer, and thus he didn’t want to get distracted from what really mattered to him. Talk about commitment!
Even with all of his opportunities, he signed up for only one activity: wrestling.
He wrote to his parents, “I wrestle solely for the strength and coordination of muscle tone that the body receives while working out, with the ultimate end of presenting a more useful body as a living sacrifice.”
Jim Elliot sacrificed everything: great opportunities for excellent careers, fun activities with friends, marrying right away the woman he loved, living in security and staying in a free country, and ultimately—he sacrificed his life.
All for the purpose of fulfilling God’s call on his life to be a “living sacrifice.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought at a price: therefore, glorify God in your body.”
I believe God’s asking us to take care of our bodies: physically, mentally, sexually, and spiritually. He wants us to give ourselves as “living sacrifices” and prepare for the work that He has for us. That means surrendering. It means taking the initiative to take care of ourselves, and take up the attitude of responsibility. It means saying:
I will take care of my body to be better equipped for the Lord’s calling and path for me. My service to Him depends not only on His direction of calling, but on how I’ve taken care of my body… I will take initiative.
If I know not exercising regularly is not good for my body or may cause my body to falter, I will exercise.
If I know eating too much junky food is bad for my body, I will not eat it.
If I know not brushing my teeth, popping my knuckles, jumping out of a tree, or purposefully harming myself is going to damage my physical service to the Lord, I will not do it.
We never know what the Lord might call us to do in the future.
Maybe we have physical limitations already—either from personal “choices” or they’ve been there since birth. But the Lord equips those He calls. He knows all about it. And He has a plan. Either way, God has asked us to take care of our bodies. To surrender personal desires, habits and doubts.
Romans 12:1: “Therefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
Blessings!
-Kayla R. Woodhouse :)
Elisabeth Elliot’s first husband, Jim Elliot, was a genius man loaded with talent and passion. But, confusing to those around him, during his college years he didn’t participate in many extracurricular activities—because he didn’t want to become preoccupied with nonessential things and miss the essential things in life. He was devoted to God’s Word and to prayer, and thus he didn’t want to get distracted from what really mattered to him. Talk about commitment!
Even with all of his opportunities, he signed up for only one activity: wrestling.
He wrote to his parents, “I wrestle solely for the strength and coordination of muscle tone that the body receives while working out, with the ultimate end of presenting a more useful body as a living sacrifice.”
Jim Elliot sacrificed everything: great opportunities for excellent careers, fun activities with friends, marrying right away the woman he loved, living in security and staying in a free country, and ultimately—he sacrificed his life.
All for the purpose of fulfilling God’s call on his life to be a “living sacrifice.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought at a price: therefore, glorify God in your body.”
I believe God’s asking us to take care of our bodies: physically, mentally, sexually, and spiritually. He wants us to give ourselves as “living sacrifices” and prepare for the work that He has for us. That means surrendering. It means taking the initiative to take care of ourselves, and take up the attitude of responsibility. It means saying:
I will take care of my body to be better equipped for the Lord’s calling and path for me. My service to Him depends not only on His direction of calling, but on how I’ve taken care of my body… I will take initiative.
If I know not exercising regularly is not good for my body or may cause my body to falter, I will exercise.
If I know eating too much junky food is bad for my body, I will not eat it.
If I know not brushing my teeth, popping my knuckles, jumping out of a tree, or purposefully harming myself is going to damage my physical service to the Lord, I will not do it.
We never know what the Lord might call us to do in the future.
Maybe we have physical limitations already—either from personal “choices” or they’ve been there since birth. But the Lord equips those He calls. He knows all about it. And He has a plan. Either way, God has asked us to take care of our bodies. To surrender personal desires, habits and doubts.
Romans 12:1: “Therefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
Blessings!
-Kayla R. Woodhouse :)
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