I Corinthians 6:19: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?”  Have you ever become so busy, had an excessive work schedule or other personal issues that you neglected the one physical body God gave you?  I have been there when I served as President of Texas A&M working some 70 to 80 hours a week.  My physical body suffered and I was very much out of shape physically and even tired mentally.  We cannot be at our best when this happens and it hinders our serving Him and those whom we lead.  I told people that I didn’t have time to exercise and to eat right with all the social and business events.  The truth is that I didn’t make time to exercise or use discipline to eat correctly.  God places us in positions of leadership at some level and we are to remember that He wants to use us for His purpose.  We must understand that He lives in us and that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit to carry out His work through us.  He can’t accomplish this if we are not healthy and in physical shape.

Exercise and proper nutrition for the leader cannot be done with periodic “fits and starts” and guilty responses.  They require discipline and life style changes to make them priority each day.  There are no quick one-time fixes.  We have to develop and maintain lasting new routines within the structure of family and work, for us to maintain a healthy body for the Holy Spirit.  These do not guarantee that we won’t have disease or live a long life.  But, we have a responsibility to keep God’s personal temple in good health for Him to lead those whom He has given us to lead.  Your family needs for you to be healthy to care, protect, provide for and lead them.  If not, we can leave this life too early or become physically debilitated to where we cannot participate with them in family activities.  The responsibility is no one else’s but ours, so make the decision now to watch your health.  Oh yes, there are two other factors that can come into play: laziness and gluttony.  Don’t become a couch potato with a soda in one hand and chips and candy in the other.  Ouch!  This challenge is rather strong but it may keep you in the leadership role has God has intended for you.