Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

All right, day five, we made it. Studying the Shema, looking at it as an invaluative tool in our life. That Shema, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and we, as men of God, should love the Lord our God with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, and lastly, all of our strength. Obviously, this is physically, that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. And so, how would you rate yourself physically? You see, for too many times this is something that has been completely neglected. 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 8, Paul tells Timothy that bodily training is of some value. Now, it is not of ultimate value, but it is of some value. He says, while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. You see, the way you treat your body is actually a matter of stewardship. Oftentimes when we talk about stewardship, we're talking about finances. And it's easiest for us to think about stewardship in regards to finances. A steward is not an owner, a steward is a manager for a time. And all the finances that we have are a grace gift from Jesus given to us. It's not ours, it's only own loan from God. And so what we do with our finances reflects what we value about God. And so let me ask you, the same thing is true for your body. So how are you stewarding your body, your physical body? You may love Jesus a lot. That is great. Can you protect your family? If you cannot protect your family, the Bible actually says if you don't provide for your family, and that's shows that's both provision and protection, then you are worse than an unbeliever. Physically, can you go on a mission trip and go to work? Physically, will you live long enough to maximize your ministry effectiveness? You see, I want us to be the kind of men that live like Paul. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 26, Paul says, So I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. You see, our bodies, our physical self, we only get one of these. Are you honoring God with your physical body? Now that could be in the way that you treat it sexually. Do you not know that you are not your own? You are bought bought at a price, therefore honor God with your body. But when it comes to taking care of your health, you see, for every mile of road, there's two miles of ditch. And the two ditches that we can often fall into is some people neglect their body and some people are too obsessed with their body. When we pursue health for our own sake and we're more concerned about what we look like on the beach or how big our arms are or what our bench press is, it's okay to have some goals. But be very careful that you don't begin to idolize the physical self at the expense of the heart and of the mind and of the soul. Like if everybody's life has to revolve around your workout schedule, you might want to pay attention to that. That's idolatry. Idolatry is when you treat something common as if it is sacred. That's what it is. But on the other side of that, and honestly, this is the majority of grown men in the church, is that you abdicate stewardship of your body. And when you treat something sacred, which is your body, like it is common, that is called sacrilege. Like imagine this like if we were at a campfire and we needed to get it started and we didn't have anything to start it with, like, oh, I'll just tear out a couple of pages in my Bible and we can start the campfire with it. You'd be like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, man, that is sacrilegious. That is a holy book. You can't do that. And if I was like, no, no, no, actually, you know, the word, the living word is Jesus, and this is the copy of his word, everybody there would be like, I don't think we should do that with pages from the Bible. And yet the Spirit of God lives on the inside of you. And so if you neglect your physical body, it is sacrilege. You are treating something that Christ purchased with his blood as if it is common. Now, the reason that we should take care of our body, the reason that we should train, one is to fulfill our role as men, as provider, protector, private priest, and servant king. But ultimately, it's so that you could be obedient to the great commandment that you could love God and love people. And a part of the way that we love people is physically, like going to visit them in jail, taking them things when they need it, feeding the poor, those kind of physical things. Also, that we are to fulfill the great commission, and that is therefore go and make disciples around the world. And so if we don't take care of and steward this one and only body that God's given us, we will not be able to obey the commandments that God has given us. So evaluate your life. Give yourself a grade. A, I'm killing it. B, it's okay, I can improve. F, I need help. Heart and your relationships, how are you doing? Mind and what you fill your mind with. Soul, your walk with Jesus, and strength, how are you doing? In all four of those categories, ask these two questions. What do I need to cut out so that I can love God with all? What's hindering my relationship with Him, my physical body, my relationships, my mind? And then what do I need to add? Maybe I need to add exercise, church attendance. I need to add forgiveness in my relationship. How am I doing? What do I need to cut out? What do I need to add? And this is not so that you could be a better version of you. This is so that you can respond to the one true God by loving God with all. Therefore, you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength. I hope and pray 26 is your best year ever.

Amen. Thank you for listening to today's episode. Before you go, if you want to help equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five star rating and review. Stay sharp.