Glorifying God with Intuitive Eating
If you’re a Christian and exploring intuitive eating, you may have a few questions about how this way of eating fits with your faith.
Like, is intuitive eating healthy? Will it help me steward my body well?
One question I hear often from believers is “can I glorify God with my body and practice intuitive eating?”
Short answer: absolutely, yes to all of the above.
For the long answer, let’s look at the verse where that last question stems from, 1 Corinthians 6:18-20:
“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
Really, sexual immorality? I thought this was a post about intuitive eating.
It is. But in order to understand this verse, often flung around by Christian wellness coaches with a heavy dose of shoulds concerning our eating and exercise habits, we have to understand the context. And the context has nothing to do with eating, self-care, exercising, or body weight.
It’s a warning against the pain of sexual immorality, point blank.
Okay, keep that in mind as we move forward.
Your body is a temple of The Holy Spirit and that’s good news
Onto the good news part, or rather, what we ought to view as good news, but often don’t. Paul tells us that as believers in Jesus, our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. We are literally united with the God of the universe, right here in these earthly bodies.
That means YOU, yes your body, just as it is, with all the bits and pieces you wish you could change about yourself, you are home to the all-powerful Holy Spirit of God.
The Bible has a lot to say about the Holy Spirit, and this post won’t even scratch the surface of the beautiful mystery of God in us, BUT here’s just a little bit of the Holy Spirit’s job description to emphasize the weight of this promise:
The Holy Spirit gives life to our mortal bodies
Where He is, there is freedom!
He is a hope bringer!
He is an advocate, counselor, helper
He supplies power, wisdom, and self-control
He provides spiritual gifts which are powerful for edifying the church
He cries out on our behalf when we know not what to pray
He reminds us of God’s truth at all times
As you can see, the Holy Spirit is not only useful, but essential for living an empowered Christian life. Jesus himself said, “it’s better that I go, so that the Helper (Holy Spirit) may come.”
I don’t know about you, but the Holy Spirit must be pretty stinking awesome if it was better that Jesus go to heaven than us miss out on the Spirit. I’m really looking forward to sitting with Jesus in real life…
All of this to say: WOW! What an amazing gift we hold inside our bodies.
This is why It breaks my heart that Paul’s words so often get twisted to make people feel condemned and unworthy of God’s Spirit.
God did not choose you because of your perfection, He calls you as you are and by simple faith in Jesus, He inhabits you with HIS perfection. Any message that attempts to shame you into arbitrary eating and exercising rules in an attempt to become worthy of God’s Spirit is a gross misrepresentation of the gospel.
So, if 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 isn’t calling us to diet and exercise and achieve an ideal weight “fit for the kingdom” (no such thing), then what is it asking of us?
After the awe-inspiring reminder that we are home to the Holy Spirit, Paul urges us to do this one thing: glorify God with our bodies.
But how do we do that?
How to glorify God in your body
First, If you’ve ever used this verse to justify an all-consuming pursuit to shrink yourself, and ultimately, to gain glory for yourself through your appearance, you’re not alone.
Release the guilt, lay it at the foot of the cross, now turn:
Paul urges us to glorify God with our bodies.
Note, to glorify means to shine a light on, to magnify, to bestow honor, praise and admiration on.
With this definition in mind, let’s stop and think, what are some ways that you glorify God in and through your body?
Some things that come to mind in my own life:
Using my energy and strength to tend to the physical needs of my children, His beloved ones.
Worshiping God through prayer, singing, contemplation walks
Imaging God by joyfully practicing my giftings (creative and physical)
Enjoying God’s creation as He designed through recreation, joyful movement, fellowship, eating, etc.
Physically serving loved ones, friends, and strangers in the name of Jesus
In contemplating this question, fight the urge to answer with ways in which you act ON our body and instead focus on you are acting WITH your body to glorify God.
I posed this question on social media and a few of the responses were:
Giving hugs
Holding my little ones
Chasing my toddler at the pool
Serving others and sharing God’s Word
Physically resting in the Lord when I’m tired and overwhelmed
Clearly the ways we glorify God with our bodies go far beyond managing our eating and exercising habits, beyond doggedly trying to shrink them to a size they weren’t meant to be.
Where did we get the idea that this verse pertains to food, fitness, and body size?
I think, like all things, it started innocently enough, with the belief that in order to act to glorify God in our bodies we must first have a healthy and strong body.
But this belief, while understandable, is a fallacy. Think about it: babies, people with extreme disabilities, the elderly. All of these individuals have bodies that aren’t healthy or strong in the way culture typically defines it, and yet, each one certainly brings glory to God in his/her own body. Through a warm hug, a smile, a touch, through a prayer, through words of wisdom, by their existence imaging God, by serving their God-given purpose on earth which their heavenly Father knows and planned for them in advance.
And while this verse doesn’t list ANY specific requirements (health or otherwise) for bringing glory to God in our bodies besides receiving the Holy Spirit through faith, our desire to be healthy and strong, to have energy to live out our calling and to live a long high-quality life is certainly not wrong or outside of God’s will. We want that for ourselves, for you, for everyone.
What’s more, we also believe the desire to care for the good gift of your body which comes from your heavenly Father, to steward it well, is a good desire.
Intuitive eating, a good way to steward your body
Intuitive eating is certainly a one way to steward your body well. In over 100 studies looking at intuitive eaters, intuitive eating has been correlated with: improved cholesterol levels, diminished stress levels, improved metabolism, decreased rates of disordered and emotional eating, higher satisfaction with life, better self-esteem, and more.
Pair intuitive eating with a healthy, joyful relationship with exercise, and you have individuals who more consistently move their bodies in a healthful (not painful or forced) manner, adding all the health benefits associated with regular movement to those of intuitive eating.
Maybe more important than all of this though is the fact that through precipitating a healthier relationship with food, movement and body image, intuitive eating/movement frees up space in our minds and energy for our bodies to live into our God-given purposes.
We can’t think of a better way to glorify God in our bodies than to present them wholly unhindered by the distraction of diet and fitness rules for the good works God’s prepared for us in advance. Can you?
If this is completely new to you, we’d love for you to watch our free class “Stop Dieting and Discover the Joy in Food and Fitness.”
Once you’ve done that and are ready to explore intuitive eating some more, come back to this page and check out the resources below for diving into intuitive eating and joyful movement. Some are secular and some are faith-based, some we created, and some were created by other women faithfully living out God’s purpose for their lives, and for these we are incredibly grateful!
Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch
Grace, Food, and Everything in Between: Discover the Transforming Power of Grace to Set You Free from Food and Body Shame by Aubrey Golbek
Move for Joy: An Intuitive Training Approach to Pursue God in Fitness and Find Happiness by Kasey Shuler
Health at Every Size: the Surprising Truth about Your Weight by Linda Bacon
Intuitive Eating for Christian Women Podcast by Char-lee Cassel and Erin Todd
Fulfilled: Let Go of Shame, Embrace Your Body, and Eat the Food You Love by Alexandra MacKillop
Joyful Health Starter Pack created by Kasey Shuler and Aubrey Golbek
We pray that these resources together with the Holy Spirit will open your eyes and heart to a new way of relating to food, fitness, your body, and most of all, to your Heavenly Father.
Grace & Joy.
