Something that has really circulated my mind recently in a world so stricken by body image is, how do we, as Christians, take good care of our bodies, while also still solely finding our identity in Christ and how He created us. Is it wrong to desire to be fit? Is it wrong to work out every day? Is it wrong to care about our body image? You see, the answer is no if we carefully step forward into those questions.
To explain my thoughts to the best of my ability I will start with my own personal experience:
For basically my whole life, I did not care about what I put in my body. I was always playing sports in High School, so quite frankly, it didn’t matter. I was like this until even through Freshman year of college where I ate lucky charms for lunch AND dinner and could have cared less about what I was shoveling in my body. Whenever I thought about my body or what I was eating I just figured “God has made how I am.” Until just a few months ago, I felt convicted about not taking care of my body, something the Lord had given me. I hadn’t gained tons of weight, or wanted a 360-body makeover, I just knew I was not treating my body as the temple it was. I started realizing the negative impact the “who cares” attitude was having on me, my confidence, and how I looked at myself. It was easy to nudge off any unhealthy habits as just my identity being in Christ, so I did not care.
However, this year, after being both stricken with conviction while also simply wanting to have more discipline in my life. I started eating a bit cleaner, working out a little bit more, and found more intentionality with how I was treating myself. To this day, I haven’t lost tons of weight, or never eat cookies, but there is a day to day intentionality with how I am treating myself.
That being said, once I started to care more about fitness and what that meant for me, I began to wonder if doing these things to strive for a better image of myself was wrong, and if I was working out, did that mean I was no longer confident in the Lord and how He had created me in His perfect image?
Here’s the deal: our bodies are a temple (1 Corinthians 6:19) and because of that we are called to be good stewards of our bodies, in more ways than one. However, I think women can get confused on where you draw the line with proper stewardship, without falling into a trap of obsession. You see, what I have learned is the line is drawn when the “perfect body” or the “six pack abs” is when it overcomes your identity in Christ.
The way I put it is once I strip away all earthly ornamentation, which 2 Corinthians 7: 1 calls us to do, am I pleased with how the Lord has created me? Do I trust without these things I am still fully loved and known by God? Do I believe I am still loved by others? Do I put as much effort into my heart as I do onto my body? Has my earthly body pursuits taken over my surrender to the cross?
If you ask yourself these questions, and are struck without an answer, or simply trying that is okay, we have all been there. However, we must remain firm in the truth that our identity should be so far separated from our earthly bodies because when we reach the gates of heaven, our goal is not for God to say to us “look at you, so fit,” but rather “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 5:25).
I know body image is s a daily, hard, battle and surrender for women each day that goes so far beyond this blog post. It has directly hurt friends I know, and I have seen people I love struggle so hard with body image, to the point of harm. So my point for this blog post is to not say people who struggle with their body image, clearly don’t have their identity in Christ, but rather on a day to day basis we must not idolize our body image just as the Israelites did with their golden calf’s in Exodus. If we place as much of ourselves in our bodies as we do in the eternal hope of the Gospel, we have a heart problem and must be reverted back to truth.
Overall, I want you, yes you, the girl reading this, to know that you are created, and loved, and made in the image and Spirit of God and cannot find hope without Him. If you are struggling with body image, and seeking to find your identity in Christ, I encourage you to pray over Psalm 139:14:
“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.”
You see, you are so fearfully and wonderfully made my friend, and I hope you surrender to that each and every day, finding your hope in the image of God, the one who laid down His life on the cross for you, yes you, something so much greater than a six pack.
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