Your Body Is Not a Project
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1
Everywhere we look, we find messages that tell us we and our bodies are not enough, that a new diet or wellness program will be the silver bullet we’ve been looking for, that if we just had this pant or swimsuit size instead of the one we currently have, then everything would be okay and we would be loved and happy.
There is nothing that makes me madder than seeing what these messages do to the women God has lovingly and intentionally created. From the beginning of creation, God created man and woman in His image, and called them what? Very good (Genesis 1: 26-31). And now, thousands of years later, God still calls our bodies very good.
But so often we are too busy listening to the voices of the world to hear God’s loving cry that we, in our current bodies, are good. We brush off the God of the universe and instead enslave ourselves to the standards and schemes of the world that are almost guaranteed not to work.
Paul is clear in Galatians: Christ died for our freedom. Freedom from negative body image, freedom from disordered eating, freedom from self-hatred and shame. Freedom from every lie that the enemy tries to trap us with. And because of this freedom, we are free to love and bless and take care of these very good bodies God has given us.
So much of diet culture tells us that our bodies are projects to fix, and the more we agree with this idea, the more our hearts drift from the heart of God and run after idyllic standards that God never wanted us to chase after.
Because of this freedom Christ offers us, Paul tells us to “Stand firm … and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery.” Friends, it’s time to stop and rest. To put down the idea that we have to beat our bodies into submission, and instead rest.
It’s time to see your body as a gift from God rather than a project to fix. Jesus offers us a better way. He loves you, He delights in you, and He calls you good, just as you are today. Stand in the freedom He has given everything for you to have, and agree with God that, indeed, you and your body are very good.