Why God’s Resurrection Power Is Your Only Real Hope for a Healthier Body

“God has raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His own power” (1 Cor. 6:14).

God never wastes anything. God doesn’t waste the physical resources of water and energy in our environment. He reuses them in multiple ways. God doesn’t waste pain. If you give your pain to Him, the Lord will use it to help others.

God was the first and best recycler.

Your body is no exception. God won’t waste your body once you die. He has a plan to resurrect it for eternity. Right now you’re living in version 1.0 of your body, but in heaven you’ll get version 2.0.

The Bible says, “God has raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His own power” (1 Cor. 6:14). Your body is so important to God that He is going to resurrect it.

The Bible says that He’ll resurrect your body “by His own power.” God will use the same power that brought Jesus back from the dead to one day raise your body from the dead.

If God can do that, then imagine what He can do in your journey toward health. If you’re like most people, you’ve tried the other routes. You know that willpower never works. Yet God’s power always does. With willpower, you get tired and drop off the diet and exercise plan. The entire time you try to diet by willpower, you’re trying to force yourself to do it.

Resolutions don’t work. Raising your commitment level doesn’t work. You need more than willpower to get healthy.

Using willpower to get healthy is like trying to steer a boat in a different direction than the autopilot. It may work for a short period of time. You may be able to muscle the wheel in one direction or the other to get where you want to go. But your strength won’t last forever. It’s a short-term fix.

Relying on God’s resurrection power to make life-altering changes like getting healthy is like changing that autopilot. You need your autopilot to be aligned with God’s Word. When that happens, God changes your life and helps you build healthy habits.

You need God’s help. You need the power that raised Jesus’ body from the dead to help you make life-altering changes in your physical health.

Will you trust God to help you change your health? Ask Him for help. He’s the only one with the power to do so.

Talk It Over

• Talk about a time you tried to get healthy through willpower.
• What changes would you like to make in your life to get healthier this year?
• What would it look like to trust God and depend upon His power as you work toward getting healthy? {eoa}

Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church. His book, The Purpose Driven Church, was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th century. He is also founder of pastors.com, a global internet community for pastors.

This article originally appeared at pastorrick.com.