The call to stewardship is evident in scripture. Believers are to steward the blessings God graciously gives, which entails overseeing what He has entrusted to us. Often, this means faithfully serving God, as He brings redeemed sinners into His family and charges them with responsibilities.

Our lives involve stewardship because we are accountable to our Creator, designed to live for His kingdom and proclaim the gospel, of which we are also stewards. Biblical concepts of stewardship abound, and body stewardship is no exception.

Our bodies are gifts from God so we are responsible to steward them for His glory.

I define body stewardship as accepting responsibility for the body by appropriately caring for its needs — like getting sufficient exercise, proper nutrition, adequate rest and limiting stress.

Body stewardship responsibly acknowledges these areas and appropriately prioritizes them after spiritual matters.

Self-control is an important foundation for the Christian’s responsibility to steward the body.

Self-control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit supplied to all believers by His indwelling presence.

Whether you need to utilize self-control in eating, protecting a time of rest despite a hectic schedule or not overdoing it in the gym, every follower of Christ has the divine ability to exhibit self-control and steward God’s gift of the body.

Practicing self-control is an integral part of the Christian life and crucial to body stewardship.

The book of Proverbs is a great place to start as it frequently presents the contradiction between the wise person and the fool.

The wise person is the self-controlled person — a point King Solomon, the author of Proverbs, makes throughout the book.

For instance, he reflects on the life of a sluggard.

The sluggard is one too lazy to tend to, or steward, any of his responsibilities. Reflect on his qualities. He sleeps too much, forsakes his duties, is never satisfied and epitomizes laziness and sloth (6:9, 10:26, 13:4, 15:19, 19:24).

He is not intentional or proactive, suffering the consequences of his sins (20:4). His desires are his downfall, and he hates work (21:25).

The sluggard is foolish but thinks he is wise, while formulating excuses to remain lazy (26:16, 26:13). He reaps destruction by his lack of discipline (24:30-34).

Most notably, in chapter 15, the sluggard is contrasted with the upright one.

Here lies the heart of the issue. If one is sluggish, slothful, lacking discipline and self-control in physical matters, he may also be ruled by the same qualities in spiritual matters.

Conversely, qualities for properly stewarding one’s spiritual life, such as discipline and self-control, are more easily transferred to stewarding one’s physical life as well.

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Lainey Greer is a Ph.D. student at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Her blog is https://greerlainey.wixsite. com/embodiment.