29And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. (Matthew 5:23-30)
Is Jesus advocating dismembering your body? Quite the contrary. To make a point, He is drawing on the universal drive of self-preservation that is inside every person. If you value your body so much that you would never sacrifice one of its parts, then you need to esteem your spiritual fitness much more.
Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, our priorities have been misplaced. Great effort is put into preserving our physical lives while our spiritual conditions are often overlooked. They constantly get put on the back burner while we tend to more urgent matters of this life.
The physical body is just temporary. If we live seventy years or more, that is just a fraction of a second in all of eternity. Our spirits live forever, and the state in which they will exist eternally is determined by the choices we make in this life. If we choose to reject Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, our spirits will spend eternity in hell, separated from God forever.
On the other hand, if we choose to receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, it means we have obtained eternal life with God. Our spirits will be alive to Him in this life and throughout eternity. This decision means we have put everything second to our spiritual wellbeing.
Today, choose to make your spiritual condition your top priority. Spend more time in the Word and praying and communing with the Father than you do in the gym working out. You will find that exercising your spirit brings greater health to every part of your being, including your physical body.
