Self Image

Hi everybody! Sorry for the delay, but I’ve had a topic on my heart that I haven’t had words to express. I want to talk about self image. This can be a difficult topic to broach, but I really feel like God’s been calling me to say something about the way we view ourselves versus the way God views us.

I want to start with the way we view our bodies. We live in a world that is always telling us there’s a better way to look. The world tells us “You’re not skinny enough, not fat enough, not tall enough, not tan enough, not strong enough, not pretty enough, not handsome enough.” It then backs this view up by digitally editing pictures and videos to make people look better, cramming our brains with advertisements on how to “fix” ourselves, and laughing at people who try to be confident in who they are despite all of this. Bottom line, it tells us, “You’re not enough.”

If this is a lie you believe, then my heart breaks for you. I won’t patronize you by saying, “Well, it’s just a lie, so you can get over it.” I’ve struggled with the same lie. I’m still struggling with it. I know how terrible it feels to know in your head that God already sees you as complete, but to not be able to grasp this truth with your heart. It made me feel even more like I wasn’t good enough, because if I was, then surely I wouldn’t still be struggling with this.

This is simply another lie, one the devil uses to keep us in a downward spiral. I’m not going to preach at you. I’m just going to use God’s Word to give you truth. There’s not a specific thing I want you to do with this truth. I’m not expecting your whole self view to become magically fixed. I just want to give you some truth that might give you a leg up in the battle against these deep-rooted lies.

Truth one: God knows every hair on our heads. Luke 12:7

He created the “earthen vessels” we would experience the world in. Do you think He would give us a body He thought was ugly? Do you think He would even give us a body He thought was, “Eh, it’s okay, I guess.”? The loving God I know would have handpicked every feature for you, every individual hair, laughing in delight at how magnificent His creation was.

Truth two: Man looks at outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7

This is one of those truths that I think most of us have heard a dozen times, and we’ve probably felt shamed by it. “I know God looks at the heart, but I just can’t stop worrying about my body.” I want to look at this verse through fresh eyes, examining every word like it’s a precious diamond.

Let me draw your attention to the first part. “Man looks at outward appearance.” It sounds to me like God recognizes that it’s a struggle for us to look beyond the body. He doesn’t say, “Man looks at outward appearance, so if I catch you doing the same, then I’ll be extremely disappointed.” He gently says, “I know you see the physical appearance, but I want you to try and trust Me when I say it doesn’t matter. Only the heart does.”

And truth three: Jesus was not handsome. Isaiah 53:2

Let me quote the whole verse for you. “For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,/ And like a root out of parched ground;/ He has no stately form or majesty that we should look up on Him,/ Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.”

Those are not very flattering words. If you had the choice, wouldn’t you have asked God to make you the most attractive person to ever walk the earth? Or at the very least, just average looking? True, it was very likely that Jesus didn’t care how he looked, and true, we could always pull the “yeah, that’s all well and good for him, he was God, but I’m just a person,” card, but isn’t our goal on this earth to be more like Jesus? Kind of makes you think, doesn’t it?

I want to talk about the way we view our insides (personality), but I think this has gone on for pretty long already, so I’ll do a separate blog for that.

Here’s a summary of what I’ve said so far. One: God created the way we look intentionally. Two: He understands it’s hard for us to look beyond our appearance. Three: The most perfect person to ever live was described as “no stately form or majesty”, yet we all try to emulate him anyways.