New year. New you.
Out with the old. In with the new.
Peace out, 2020. Hey there, 2021!
However you say it, the new year is here. And with it comes new intentions, plans, resolutions. Around 75 million Americans will make a resolution this year. We’ll resolve to use our money and time wisely. Invest more in relationships with family and friends. Finish that to-do list or apply for that dream job. And, like we do every year, we’ll resolve to get healthy. In fact, the most common resolutions involve something health-related.
At the turn of each year, we assess the previous one and plan to do things differently in the next. Our resolutions stick for a few weeks, but if we lack proper motivation, they don’t last. By mid-February, resolutions wane and old habits return.
Every New Year’s resolution is motivated by something. The same goes for resolutions to get healthy. Our motivation arises from somewhere.
If you made a resolution towards better health, what was your reason? Is it to wear a certain size pants or dress? Maybe it’s getting back in that bathing suit. Perhaps you have a trip planned this year. Or a loved one’s death convinced you it was time to change. Is it wanting to be healthier for your spouse or kids? To be around for your grandkids? Did your doctor guilt you into it? Whatever the motivation, we all have one.
If you are a Christian, your faith should motivate everything that you do in life. The same goes for that resolution to get healthy. Belief in God and His word should motivate care for your physical health. Otherwise, your resolution will not last.
Resolutions only last as long as your willpower does. Once you can no longer sustain the will to change, your resolution to get healthy in 2021 will be postponed until 2022.
So, as a Christian, how do we find the necessary motivation to improve our physical health? We look to Scripture. Here are 15 reasons to find motivation for healthy resolutions in your faith instead of fleeting willpower. Each verse speaks to physical life in various ways, showing that the body - and its health - is important to God.
1. We are created to bear God’s image, which involves our soul and body. Genesis 1:26-27
2. God made us his physical, embodied representatives to carry out his plans on earth. Genesis 1:27
3. We should marvel at the wonderful design of our physical body. Psalm 139:13-16
4. Scripture condemns sloth and gluttony, which are sins committed in and with the body. Proverbs 21:25, 23:2
5. The Christian faith is a spiritual pursuit carried out through the physical body. Romans 6:12-14
6. Through the body, we present ourselves to God as an act of worship, sacrificially living for him. Romans 12:1-2
7. The body is for the Lord and united to Christ. 1 Corinthians 6:13-15
8. The Holy Spirit indwells the believer’s body, sanctioning it as God’s holy possession. 1 Corinthians 6:18
9. Jesus Christ suffered and died for our embodied existence, giving him authority over it. 1 Corinthians 6:20
10. The command to glorify God in the body requires Christians to consider all daily, bodily activities, asking whether or not they bring God glory. 1 Corinthians 6:20
11. We are to glorify God in all things, even in our eating and drinking. 1 Corinthians 10:31
12. The body will be resurrected and restored to an eternal existence. 1 Corinthians 15:51-53
13. Christians are equipped with the divine ability to be self-controlled, a necessary quality to restrain and master bodily sins and temptations. Galatians 5:22-23
14. While spiritual pursuits should be prioritized, physical training is valuable for the believer. 1 Timothy 4:7-8
15. Overall, Scripture teaches that God has authority over our bodies and values them as his creation. Properly caring for them is an aspect of Christian faithfulness.
So, if you made a resolution to get healthy this year, let the motivation behind it will revolve around what God says about your body - that he cares for it and so should you.