Body Talk

I love food. Who doesn't? Fried chicken, chocolate cake, french fries...the list goes on and on! Attending a college surrounded by fast food restaurants is seriously a struggle. But I've always thought that my diet was no big deal. I can eat what I want to eat, it's my body after all, right?

“Do you not know that your body is a temple 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 body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19 NIV)

My body...a temple of the Holy Spirit? No way. This has to be a mistake. It's not my physical body that God wants, it's my heart! Maybe I just didn't want to see the blatant message that the Holy Spirit was trying to tell me, but after reading that verse, I simply couldn't deny it any longer:

"How can you give your heart to God but keep your body for yourself?"

Talk about a spiritual slap in the face! Here I was with a heart for God, but a body for myself. But realizing our bodies are vessels of the Holy Spirit is about much more than just eating healthy. 

I'm a girl. Girls are self-conscious about their bodies. It's a fact. Not a scientifically proven one, but let's be honest. I'm going to go out on a limb here and claim that every girl, no matter what her physical appearance is, has something about her body that makes her unhappy. Curvy girls want to be skinny, skinny girls want to have curves. The cycle is never-ending, and frankly, quite exhausting.

Swimsuit season is coming up soon...shoot me now. Here comes the time of year where women prance around sunny beaches wearing nothing more than publicly acceptable underwear. Even though to some, I may look tall and skinny under my numerous cardigans and mom jeans, I hate wearing a swimsuit. There are few things more torturous than baring it all for the world to see. Recently, I went shopping for a new swimsuit, hoping to get a nice modest one before they all got picked over. I tried on swimsuit after swimsuit, my frustration increasing with each failed attempt to find the magical material and cut that was going to make me look like a Victoria Secret model. 

Then it hit me. Instead of focusing on my cellulite, I should be focusing on the fact that while I may not look exactly the way I want to look, I am healthy, I am loved, and I am still pursued by the Creator of the universe, cellulite and all. 

Comparison is the thief of joy, my friends. Stop looking at the girls on the magazines. Yes, they might have a smaller waist size, but do they have God? Are they aware of the relentless love of Jesus Christ? 

God wants all of us. ALL. Including our bodies. Whether that body is full of soft curves or bony elbows, He wants it. Psalm 45:11 says to, "Let the King be enthralled by your beauty; honor Him, for He is your Lord." Christ is enthralled by the beauty of His daughters. But we are also called to honor Him, and this includes with our bodies. So stop with the extremes. Getting healthy is not the same thing as getting skinny. Don't constantly feed your body trash, but feed your body nonetheless. Don't let your body image become an idol that separates you from intimacy with the Savior.   

No matter what the world says about you, God loves you, desires you, and is ENTHRALLED by you. 
Rest in that promise. Be secure in that promise. Stop striving and start living!