Go Organic

No vaccine in the world prevents cultures from the infestation of fads and trends. They’re everywhere and people fall prey to them all the time. From over-the-top children toys to the latest and greatest miracle diet, fads consume us with a compulsion to ride their wave. Unfortunately, many wipe out.
One particular fad of late that’s manifested into a culture all its own is the one of going organic. Health nuts immerge from all walks of life to stake their claim in the organic trend and make it their purpose in every aspect of life.
Living a healthy lifestyle is an admirable goal. But many find themselves riding the wave of all things earth far beyond healthy boundaries appropriate for their lives. Like everything else in life, we need to balance the scales—to exercise our God-endowed stewardship while keeping it in proper perspective with His Word and Gospel.
It’s no accident that we’re physical beings. Our physicality did not arise from the curse of the Fall, nor are our physical bodies designed to keep our spirits enslaved until we die. God created us multi-dimensional—spiritual AND physical.
Because of the fall, Scripture shows us that our physical bodies will not be accompanying us into eternity with Jesus. When Jesus returns we will receive new glorified bodies and exist without pain or suffering, without tears or hurt for eternity.
For now, we live knowing that “our outer man is decaying.” We will die, and we experience the effects of a broken world physically every day. So what are we to do? Be reckless and gorge on whatever physical pleasures we desire?
As Paul would say, “By no means!”
Physical and spiritual cannot be separated. If we suffer an emotional tragedy, it will manifest itself spiritually, relationally, and physically in our lives. Same with physical turmoil and/or sin. Paul gives an example in 1 Corinthians 6 regarding a man sleeping with a prostitute. That physical sin deeply affects the man’s spiritual relationship with God. Thus, we can sin against our own body by allowing our body to fall into sin.
What we do with our bodies matters. God cares about our physical selves, and our relationships with Him are impacted by the physical choices we make. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 tells us why…
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 have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
No building or establishment can hold God or contain His presence, but in the Temple God designated a physical location where He would be represented among His people. With the inauguration of the Gospel through Jesus Christ, the Temple veil tore symbolizing the breaking down of physical barriers to God in Christ. Don’t miss this. With the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, God chooses now to dwell in us—to take up residence within our hearts and lives.
That does not mean God becomes some strange adage to our bodies. We don’t receive a “God-organ” that produces spiritual chemicals of truth that take over our minds and cause us to do His will.
God’s residence DOES, however, provide us with unhindered access to His presence. We can communicate with Him constantly and have access to His power and holiness without obstruction.
When Paul says that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and that we have been bought with a price, he means exactly that. God chooses to reside in us through Christ. When we surrender to Christ as our Savior, we are no longer our own. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross purchases us from our bondage of sin and frees us into His future.
This purchase is not limited to our spirits—our bodies are redeemed as well! Physical suffering may not cease, but through all our suffering (physical or not) we’re being redeemed. Exercising diligent stewardship of our physical bodies partners with the Gospel being manifested in our lives.
Once we embrace the Gospel our role is to go deeper into it. Our growth as disciples of Christ is marked by our transforming into His image. In other words, His holiness manifests itself organically in our lives. We organically become practically (in our lives and relationships) who we are positionally (in our legal standings with God).
Our bodies may not glow with His radiant beauty, but our disposition will. The freedom we possess in Christ will absolutely display itself in our physical demeanor and presence. The process is organic. If our inner man is being renewed day by day, it will reveal itself through our physical beings. Not necessarily with immaculate health, but absolutely in our presence because it's HIS presence seen through us.
None of this will happen, though, if we aren’t faithful stewards with the bodies He’s given us. The Gospel isn’t a fad; it’s LIFE. Going organic in the Gospel means letting it radically transform us into the image of Jesus—beginning with our hearts and letting it manifest itself through our physical presence. Go organic by surrendering to His Gospel physically as well as spiritually. It’s the only way to live a life of substance--a life pleasing and in submission to our Sovereign Lord.