5 Truths About Your Physical and Spiritual Health
October 7, 2021 • by Jen Oshman
I met Molly one afternoon when I went door to door in our neighborhood to invite each household to a block party. She and her family had just moved in back then, but we’ve now been friends for almost five years. Molly always laughs when she tells others, “Jen just walked into my house and said ‘let’s be friends.’” It’s true. What I lacked in couth I made up for in enthusiasm.
I knew I needed Molly to be my friend because I had seen her running up and down our street and lifting weights in her garage. Since our move from overseas back to the US—and all the disruption in friendships and routine that come with a transition like that—I had zero motivation to move my body. I knew I needed her good influence.
Little did I know what I was getting into at the time. I’m now in her garage three times a week with a handful of other women, ages 20 to 65, getting very sweaty and sufficiently sore.
A sweet gift of God is that Molly is also a Christian. We spend time together not only in the gym, but also at church, around the dinner table at small group, and on the living room floor at women’s Bible study. We get to share both our physical growth and our spiritual growth.
That means over the past few years we’ve noticed how very similar physical growth and spiritual growth are. Oftentimes principles she shares in the gym are the very ones I’m exclaiming at Bible study. Sometimes our admonishments are almost even word for word.
It makes sense because we are embodied souls—our souls and our bodies cannot be separated—so what’s true spiritually is also usually true physically and vice versa.
Here are five truths that pertain to both our spiritual fitness and our physical fitness.
“Just as surely as our physical bodies need care, so too do our souls.”
Both Body and Soul Require Care.
You know from your own life experience that both body and soul grow tired. We need sleep every day; we need water and food. Paul compares us to jars of clay and notes that our outer self is wasting away (1 Cor. 4:7, 16). But just as surely as our physical bodies need care, so too do our souls.
The Holy Spirit renews us inwardly (1 Cor. 4:16) and the Lord leads us beside quiet waters and restores our souls (Psalm 23:2, 3). We are finite human beings. Self care is key because without it our physical bodies and our spiritual bodies will tire, get sick, and burn out. Let us be thoughtful with the bodies and souls the Lord has given us, as they are fragile and finite and worthy of care.
We Only Get One of Each
You and I only get one life—one body and one soul. James says life is like a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes (James 4:14). Peter says our flesh is like grass, which withers (1 Peter 1:24). And the Psalmist asks the Lord to teach us to number our days, because life is short (Psalm 90:12).
We must steward the life we’ve been given with urgency and intentionality, because we only get one and it’s brief. While it’s true that heaven awaits and we will have eternal life with our Lord in the new heavens and new earth, this moment, on this side of heaven, is our one and only chance to preach Christ crucified, risen, and coming again. We have one lifetime, one body, and one soul to make Jesus known. Let us steward our bodies and souls well so that we might love God and love others well.
Change Comes From Slow, Simple, Daily Routines
The first time I worked out in Molly’s garage was during the month of October. I was heading on vacation in December and I wanted to be beach body ready. I think I remember Molly suppressing a giggle as she said something like, “Well, let’s just get started and take it one day at a time.” What my seasoned trainer knew but I didn’t is that physical strength and vitality come slowly. Months and years of good daily choices about food, sleep, and exercise are what makes a body healthy. The same is true for our souls.
So often I meet women who want to be spiritually mature in an instant. But there are no life hacks when it comes to one’s spiritual strength and vitality. You can’t fake knowing and trusting God. We are shaped by everyday choices to read the Word, pray, and gather with other believers for worship. There is no shortcut to the goodness of walking months and years with Jesus. As Paul says, we “are being transformed…from one degree of glory to another” (2 Cor. 3:18). When it comes to both spiritual and physical health, let us pursue the quiet, hidden, daily routines that make us strong.
“We are shaped by everyday choices to read the Word, pray, and gather with other believers for worship. ”
Growth Comes Through Community
One thing I love about working out in Molly’s garage is the other women there—they are all ages, levels of strength, and experience. There are women twenty years older than me who can run faster and lift heavier than I can. They spur me on, cheer for me, and remind me that they’ve been in the gym for a decade longer than I have. And the younger women keep me on my toes and help me maintain levity and joy in something that’s hard. The presence of both younger and older sisters alike sharpens me (Proverbs 27:17).
And the same is true in the church. Younger women need the spurring and teaching of older women (Titus 2:3-5). One generation commends God’s work and character to the next (Psalm 145:5). But also, our younger sisters in Christ can set for us an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity (1 Timothy 4:12).
We need each other. We are made for community. Let us get stronger, both physically and spiritually, as we lock arms and pursue growth together.
No One Can Do it For You
Finally, no one can grow for you—neither physically, nor spiritually. Sometimes women show up to the gym or to Bible study and express a desire to grow, but then do not follow through. They start with enthusiasm, but when the going gets tough, they give up. Molly can long for someone to grow in physical health and I can long for someone to grow in spiritual health, but each woman must want it for herself.
When it comes to our physical lives and our spiritual lives, we must each choose who we will serve (Joshua 24:14-15). We must each run the race marked out for us (Hebrews 12:1). We must each set our minds on things above (Colossians 3:1). Let us ask the God who made us to help us commit to both our spiritual and physical well being.
My friendship with Molly has been a gift. We have spurred one another on to love and good works both spiritually and physically. Strength takes time, but both body and soul are worth the care and effort. These bodies and souls and lives are not our own—they were bought with a price. May we honor and glorify our God who made us, saved us, and strengthens us.
Jen Oshman has been in women’s ministry for over two decades as a missionary and pastor’s wife on three continents. She’s the mother of four daughters, the author of Enough about Me: Find Lasting Joy in the Age of Self (Crossway, 2020), and the host of All Things, a podcast about cultural events and trends. Her family currently resides in Colorado, where she and her husband serve with Pioneers International and they planted Redemption Parker, an Acts29 church. Read more of Jen’s writing at jenoshman.com.
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