𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗻: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆

Paul, who wrote half the New Testament, said something most of us would never say about ourselves.
"I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." 1 Corinthians 9:27
Keep under. The Greek is a boxing word, to strike beneath the eye. Paul disciplined his body like an athlete in training, and his reason was not fitness. It was finishing. He was afraid of preaching to others and being disqualified himself.
The body is not neutral. It has appetites, and appetites vote. Hunger, sleep, comfort, pleasure, ease. Left ungoverned they do not stay in their lane. They become the lane. "Whose God is their belly." Philippians 3:19
𝗔 𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗻.
That is why fasting exists. Not to earn anything. To remind the body who is in charge. A man who cannot say no to a meal will struggle to say no to anything.
History agrees. John Wesley rode roughly a quarter of a million miles on horseback and preached into his late eighties, and he was precise about his sleep, his food and his hours, because he knew the body was the horse that carried the message. Daniel's diet in Babylon was discipline before it was devotion.
Now the balance. This is not vanity and it is not punishment. Paul also said "bodily exercise profiteth little" compared to godliness. 1 Timothy 4:8. Little, not nothing. The body is the servant, not the master, and also not the enemy. You govern it the way a good king governs a province: firmly, kindly, for the sake of the whole kingdom.
𝗦𝗼, 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆.
Move it. Walk, lift, run, something, most days. A sedentary body dulls a praying mind.
Feed it like it belongs to Someone else. Because it does.
Fast sometimes. Let the body hear "no" from you before it hears it from a doctor.
Rest it. We covered sleep. It still applies.
The goal is not a body you can show. It is a body that will carry you to the finish line without becoming the reason you fall off before it.
Bring it under. Then run.(I am guilty of a few and my heart is pricked just like yours might be) 
#TheWholeMan #Faith #Discipline #Health