Ever had something bothering you so much you get to a point where you just had enough and want to speak out. Well, that is where I am at today. This may be the shortest and to the point blog that I may ever write but I’m going to get straight to the point.
As I was reading my bible I came across this verse and it really struck me.
“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10
I’m getting so tired of social media and this “image” that we are supposed to portray. 90% of my newsfeed or different post I see of people is about their body image, exercising, dieting, etc. At least once a day during a conversation with someone in person something comes up about body image and I have had enough! I have come to the realization that I am almost 30 years old and I do not look like I was in high school and you know what I am ok with that because I am not looking for approval of human beings but for God’s approval! Here are just a couple of key points I want to make.
You were made in God’s images (Genesis 1:27): We all have different body types. Plain and simple. Some of us are short, some are of average height, and some are tall. The reason for what height you are is because that is how God intended you to be. My point is we all have different body types. Even if everyone in the world weighed 130lbs we would all still look different because of height differences.
Your body is a temple of God: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies: Right in the verse, it says that your body is not your own but is God’s. I’m not saying exercising and eating healthy isn’t important. It very much is. We need to feed, fuel, and strengthen our bodies but we need to do it because it belongs to God and we need to take care of it. Eating junk food/overeating can be harmful to our bodies but also limiting what we put in our bodies to try to maintain a certain body image is harmful as well. Ways to Treat your body like a temple of God could be to show up for your meals, move to feel good, and turn comparison into love, which brings me to my next point.
Comparison is the thief of Joy. This quote is actually not from the bible but from Theodore Roosevelt and it’s so true. We compare ourselves to others and even ourselves from the past way too much. I was this way not too long ago. I would compare myself to how I use to look when I was in high school and from when I was first married. I wasn’t happy with my body image and I tried doing different diets and workouts to get back to where I was. I was getting stressed out a lot because I wasn’t seeing results quick enough and we all know there is such a thing as weight gain from stress. I wouldn’t post certain pictures because I didn’t like how I looked in them when while taking that picture I was so happy. I was letting comparison steal my joy and I have had enough. It was my own self-doubt that was making me like this and I was so worried about getting others’ approval of me rather than God’s!
So, with this being said, I’m not going to let comparison steal my joy no more. I am not seeking to get man’s approval anymore. God created me in His own image and for that reason, I am going to treat my body as a temple of God and continue to exercise and eat healthily. I AM a servant of God so I am going to focus my energy on winning God’s approval of me and not man’s approval and while doing so, I may just have a slice a pizza.
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.” 2 Timothy 3:1-5
