Honor God With Your Body: 12 Practical Ways
Have you ever wondered how to honor God with your body?
Perhaps you’ve read Romans 12:1 and want to apply it to your life: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” (NIV).
Today, we’ll talk about how to honor God with your body by practicing 12 practical steps. I invite you to join me on a clear winter morning, and we’ll explore the idea of bringing God glory in all we do. Be sure to read to the end of today’s post for a free devotional eBook to help you honor God with your body.
How to Honor God With Your Body
Birdsong tangled in the spruce boughs the morning of my birthday. It was going to be a good day, the kind of day with space to breathe and bask and reflect on the past year.
I was going to drink green tea and walk beneath the veil of hemlocks in the valley. We would order pizza and wings for dinner and laugh with light hearts while we ate.
Instead, the school declared a snow day. Fights broke out among the kids, and no one wanted to walk beneath snow-laden hemlocks. When the pizza came, all I really wanted to do was lock myself in the basement and enjoy the silence.
I think about all this as I watch the winter storm blow across the fields outside. Maybe the secret to glorifying God isn’t about happy circumstances. Maybe it’s about a willing heart.
How to Honor God With Your Body: 12 Ways
Do you want to learn how to glorify God in your body, even when life is frustrating? Consider these truths.
1. Honor God with your body by serving others.
The Apostle Paul reminds us of the following truth: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves” (Phil. 2:3).
Jesus offers a paradox when he tells us that the most abundant life is the life that’s given away.
What’s this look like?
We give our time to invest in others.
We give our energy to help those in need.
This is the great paradox: Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed (see Prov. 11:25 NIV).
2. Honor God with your body by following him even when there is a cost.
Jesus offers the following admonition: “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33 ESV).
Do you want deeper joy? Do you truly want to learn how to glorify God in your body?
Follow God in obedience even when there is a cost. Sacrifice time and energy for others. Resist temptation even when it looks enticing.
3. Whatever you do, do it for God’s glory.
Paul wrote that whatever we do, whether eating or drinking or anything else, we are to do it unto God: “Whether you eat or drink, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).
How would your life be different if all your actions were for the glory of God?
4. Remember that your body is God’s temple.
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 for you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
Our bodies are not our own. They were purchased for a price.
The Holy Spirit lives in us.
Just as the Spirit lived in a temple before Jesus came, he now dwells in all followers of Christ. We are to honor God’s temple by caring for our bodies.
5. Honor God with your body by prioritizing rest.
God gives rest to his children.
Rather than pushing ourselves beyond burnout, we honor him by resting well.
“God gives rest to those he loves” (Ps. 127:2).
6. Honor God with your body by living with sexual integrity.
“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body” (1 Cor. 6:18).
We honor God with our bodies by avoiding sexual immorality at all costs. This includes being careful on our screens and avoiding ungodly fantasies.
7. Honor God with your body through movement.
“Physical training is of some value, but godliness is of value in every way” (1 Tim. 4:8).
Godliness is important.
We equip ourselves to live godly lives by caring for our bodies and moving to gain physical strength.
8. Honor God with your body by making healthy food choices.
“Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons come to poverty, and drowsiness clothes them in rags” (Prov. 23:20-21).
This verse reminds us to honor God by eating and drinking in healthy ways, in moderation.
9. Honor God with your body by prioritizing medical care.
Many people neglect medical care because of the cost of time and energy.
Rather than avoiding doctors, we honor God by caring for our medical issues.
10. Honor God with your body by caring for your mental health.
God cares about our mental health.
We should pray for sound minds. We should also seek therapy for healing and restoration.
God uses trained professionals to care for our mental health needs.
11. Honor God with your body by embracing your current reality.
A mentor once encouraged me with these words, “You will find the joy you crave when you learn to embrace the reality that is your life.”
Are you tired of hurrying to check boxes off some unwritten list?
Pause today, friend.
God is not calling you to a life of hurry. If you are hurrying to check off all the boxes, you are likely chasing goals God never asked you to set.
God is not calling you to a life of hurry. If you are hurrying to check off all the boxes, you are likely chasing goals God never asked you to set. #hurry #goals #slowingdown Share on X
12. Honor God with your body by aiming to be present.
Pursue a present way of living.
Look long into the eyes of the people you love.
Pause to breathe. Pause to glance heavenward.
Give thanks often.
As daylight faded on my disappointing birthday, I gathered the little ones. I gathered them with their frustrations and needs and bad moods, and we snuggled on the couch.
It wasn’t perfect.
Nevertheless, God’s presence was with us. I knew I had taken one small step toward embracing the interruption to my plans, which was, perhaps, the simplest way to honor God with my body. The same invitation awaits you countless times every day. What will you choose?
Calling All Parents and Grandparents!
As the parent of two sons and a daughter, I have a heart for helping parents develop deeper relationships with their children and with God. Our kids, ages 7, 12, and 16, share this vision. They have helped me write three family devotionals for parents or older relatives to read with the children and teens they love. I also recently released a teen devotional called Anchored, designed to help teens learn key biblical narratives and apply them to their lives. You can find these books here or read more below. 
Mother-Daughter Devotionals by a Mom and Daughter
Girl to Girl: 60 Mother-Daughter Devotions for a Closer Relationship and Deeper Faith is written for girls ages 7-12. It includes 60 devotions with Scripture, conversation starters, and a shared journaling section for moms and daughters after each devotion. I wrote this book with the help of our daughter, Bekah, when she was eleven. Find this one-of-a-kind shared devotional here.
Heart to Heart: A Mother-Daughter Devotional With 50 Devotions for Teen Girls is for teenage girls ages 13-20. It includes 50 devotions, each with a shared journaling section to help moms and daughters connect through writing. This is a great book for moms who want to communicate about awkward topics—like dating, sexuality, peer pressure, and more—but don’t know where to start. Bekah and I will help you right here.
Devotions for Boys by Boys
God’s Warrior: Devotions for Boys Who Want to Grow in Courage and Strength helps young boys, ages 5-13, learn what it means to trust God and become strong warriors for his kingdom. Now, more than ever, our world needs men who are willing to boldly carry God’s love into the world. I wrote this boys’ devotional book with our two young sons, Aiden and Caleb, ages six and eleven! You’ll enjoy their honesty as we teach boys how to be strong warriors for the Lord. Find this life-changing devotional book here.
These Books Are Free on Kindle Unlimited: God Wants to Heal, Restore, and Refresh You
God wants to work in your life to accomplish what you’ve been unable to do through willpower alone. He also wants to help you establish a rhythm of meeting with him daily as you trust him with the hard parts of your life. Click here to explore two books that will guide you: Be Still and Trust and Lean Into Grace. They are free on the Kindle Unlimited program and for sale in print.
Download Your Free Devotional Here
Set Free: Let God Do What You Cannot explores ten realms in which most of us need God to work in our lives and bring deliverance. We’ll talk about finding freedom from fear, worry, insecurity, bad habits, emotional pain, and more. This short online devotional will bless you as you let God accomplish what you’ve been unable to achieve through willpower. Get your download for free with promo code GRACE or for a donation of 3.99 here. Thank you. This small gift helps keep this ministry running.
I also offer a library of free online devotional eBooks for free. I invite you to explore the collection right here!
This post was first published on August 23, 2017.
