Balanced, Physically - Balance in a Certain Light (Focus 3 of 4)

See what this Spotlight—and series— is focused on.
Tap on the words "Focus 2" in the image below to read this Spotlight's summary.

Now that you’ve answered the icebreaker question, here’s another: this one about body types. 

Listen to O Dearest Lord, Your Sacred Head by pressing play on the video below.

Since God's dream for your body is the subject today, then it will be important to remember that in the same way that God has a spirit (to keep spiritually balanced) and a mind (to keep mentally balanced) he also has a body.

Jesus' body was forced out of balance as he was being killed on the cross, and some Christians have found it helpful to meditate on the specific wounds he received as a way of making real what he did for them. This has led to literature that focused on the "four wounds" Jesus' body received:

1. The crown of thorns on his head.
2. The nails that held his hands to the cross.
3. The nail that held his feet to the cross.
4. The spear that stabbed his side after he had died to prove his death was real.

The hymn O Dearest Lord, Your Sacred Head is one of those pieces of literature. This hymn was written in 1918 and published in The Mirfield Mission Hymn Book (1922). It was included in a devotional called The Divine Compassion (1930) in a section of ‘Prayer Poems’ with the title ‘The Sacred Wounds’.

What's particularly beautiful about the hymn, though, is that it brings up the idea of Jesus’ wounded body not to create a feeling of guilt or obligation, but to give hope and purpose. It connects the wounded parts of Jesus to the parts of your body. You're called to think of your head, hands, feet, and heart—body parts God gave for you and you can give to him.

Use this interactive presentation to consider why God would make it so that your body reflects what you think and feel.

Navigate this interactive timeline and see that while your body keeps the score of your abuser's hate or neglect, Jesus' body keeps the score of his excruciating love for you.

Listen to The Hand Song by Nickel Creek and take to heart what Christ's beaten and victorious body means for yours.
(Once you press play to start the song, you can click through the lyrics in the frame below the video player.)

Ask yourself why you can sense what you can sense.

God doesn't spend a lot of time in the Bible talking about your senses, but he does point out how important having multiple, unique senses is in 1 Corinthians 12:15-21:

Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”

While these verses are actually about how important it is that there are unique, diverse people, it's unmistakable that the senses matter. But what are they really for?

While you chew on that, chew on this: you've been lied to about your senses.

Share your opinions with the group, before moving on to the next section: What are the senses for? In other words, why would God give people bodies that can sense?

Listen and read along with an account on Jesus' body's best day.

These two students of Jesus, obviously affected by knowing that their teacher Jesus had recently been executed, had another lesson to learn. They had expressed—to the person they didn't know was the risen Jesus—that they worried their hope in Jesus "redeeming Israel" was as dead as Jesus. They had thought that Jesus was going to restart the earthly nation of Israel with glory. Their teacher taught them with a lengthy Bible study about his true mission and how that mission had been described throughout the Bible. With Jesus' help, they learned what they needed to learn.


But notice how Jesus did it: not as a voice from heaven or appearing in a non-human form like a dove or something. Jesus came with footsteps crunching the dirt on the road, right along with them. Jesus kept pace with them. Jesus molded his posture to the walking conversation they were having. Jesus put his hand into the same bowl as them at the dinner table. Jesus took hours (hours!) out of the actual day of his actual resurrection, the most glorious day for the most glorious person in the most glorious turn of events ever, just to be with these two guys and not be elsewhere.


Jesus loves to give his energetic, focused presence to those he loves. This is how he uses his body. This is how the best day for Jesus' body was spent. He lavished these two guys with his energetic, focused presence, because that's the desire for people like you that he feels burning in his heart.

Discuss the following with your group:

• Agree/Disagree: A well-balanced body is able to be present in ways an imbalanced body is not.
• Explain in your own words: The limitations that come from having a physical body actually make it easier to love well. 
• Can you improve on Rainer Maria Rilke's poetic, presence-oriented definition of love (below), or do you think it does the trick?

Love consists in this
that two solitudes protect
and touch and greet each other.
-Rainer Maria Rilke

Consider how you use a day’s energy.

Physical health needs need to be met to stay balanced.

From Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, (these are more survival needs, however, not "balance" needs)…

• breathing
• food
• water
• sex
• sleep
• homestasis
• excretion

A list more tailored to balance might include: 

• healthy fuel for the body
• absence of foreign chemicals in the body from processed/synthetic foods and substances
• regular physical activity and exercise
• appropriate and consistent amount of sleep
• sex

In Matthew 7:25–34, however, Jesus bids his people to not even worry about those most basic needs like food and clothing because he'll take care of them. So a person who is balanced both spiritually and physically will know what their body needs and make choices accordingly, trusting all the while that God is watching them as well with care and provision.

Discuss the following with your group (and consider, reflecting on yourself):

1. What rhythms have you found work?
2. Where does God fit into them?

Feel free to submit a prayer request by filling out the below form.
(If you choose to make your request public, you'll see it display in the Current at the end of the Spotlight along with anyone else who did the same.)

Pray through your requests—together—as a group.
After submitting your requests in the above form, take some time to share with your group whatever requests the group might have for this week.

Meditate on the below text as you read and respond.

Select one person from your group to read all of the Bible verses (in italics) and have the rest of the group respond aloud with "Lord, I want you with all of me" (in bold) after each one—together, in unison.


The Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)


Lord, I want you with all of me.

You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. (Psalm 139:13–14)


Lord, I want you with all of me.

When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. (Psalm 32:3–5)


Lord, I want you with all of me.

He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)


Lord, I want you with all of me.

Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” (John 20:26–27)


Lord, I want you with all of me.

After my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God. (Job 19:26)


Lord, I want you with all of me.

You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy. (Psalm 30:11)


Lord, I want you with all of me.

Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30)


Lord, I want you with all of me.

Listen to All of Me by The Orchardist to continue on with that thought.
(Once you press play to start the song, you can click through the lyrics in the frame below the video player.)

Let's wrap things up by taking a look at what's Current at Illume.
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