The Purpose of the Body

Now Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, “Let me run and take the news to the king that the LORD has vindicated him by delivering him from the hand of his enemies.” “You are not the one to take the news today,” Joab told him. “You may take the news another time, but you must not do so today, because the king’s son is dead.” Then Joab said to a Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen.” The Cushite bowed down before Joab and ran off. Ahimaaz son of Zadok again said to Joab, “Come what may, please let me run behind the Cushite.” But Joab replied, “My son, why do you want to go? You don’t have any news that will bring you a reward.” He said, “Come what may, I want to run.” So Joab said, “Run!” Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain and outran the Cushite. – 2 Samuel 18:19-23

I used to be really really in shape. I'm talking about running, jumping, sprinting, swimming, biking. I used to do it all. Now I can hardly go a day burning more than 1500 calories. I mean, there's some days I burn 0 calories and don't get out of my couch. So I decided to play basketball the other day with some friends. I strapped up my shoes, got my basketball shorts on, got mentally prepared to shoot some hoops, got picked up in a car and went to the court. Those first couple of seconds felt absolutely incredible. I felt like I could play basketball all day. I felt like I was 22 years old, in shape, ready to go as soon as the game started. But then something happened… the game started. I couldn't even get from the free-throw line to the three-point line without feeling like I was running a half mile sprint. I was exhausted within a few minutes. Breathing heavily out of my mouth. I was an absolute disaster.

As I was sitting there facing defeat of all the donuts and Coca-Cola I've consumed this past couple of years, I realized how poorly I have treated the body that God has given me. It was a real awakening for me. I got to thinking about what the body is intended for, what a body is designed to do and why it was created to do so. And this body of mine, this body of ours, is to glorify God. Is to worship him with our physical activity. And as I read this story in 2 Samuel about how Ahimaaz was so ready to do something not just something simple, but brave. What was this thing he needed to do. Run. Just run. This was a perfect opportunity to run away. Not run towards the danger. Ahimaaz begs Joab to run and tell King David the news that Absalom, the kings son, has died. Joab and Ahimaaz both know that King David may not respond positively to this news and Joab tries to protect Ahimaaz from the uncertain outcome by running and sending a Cushite to deliver the news, but I love Ahimaaz’s response, “Come what may, I want to run.” That is a man using his body to worship God. In the old testament we see a ton of physical actions with human bodies that worship God. But in the New Testament there is a new type of body that worships God, and that body is the church. This coming Sabbath, will be talking about the body of Christ and what it means to be apart of that body and not ours.

Connected to the Vine,

Pastor Victor