“I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or death.” (Phil. 1:20, TNIV. Italics added.)

This isn’t about sickness in the body. This is about our lives being “all in,” to use a poker term. Some would proclaim that having sickness in the body can’t glorify God. I am not in that camp.

What Paul is saying is his body needed to be in line with Kingdom principles. The Kingdom is lived out in our physical realm. The body can’t be committing sin while the mind says, “Well, my spirit is pure.” My physical life needs to be in this walk with Christ! Paul was in prison. He knew suffering. And in it, he saw Christ glorified.

This walk with Christ isn’t done outside my body. My body is in this. My life as a whole needs to line up with the power of the gospel. Often, as a symbol of my surrender, I will lay prostrate and say, “Lord, take my whole body as a sacrifice. Let my mind and my actions be in line with your Kingdom today.”

We are living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1).