Originally published Wednesday, 17 October 2012.
Welcome to Day 3 of Stress Points to Life Points!
Day 3 Stress Point Body Image: Get Over Yourself & Make Much Of Him.
As I mentioned several times in Stress Point, I really really really didn’t want to write the Body Image chapter. I would much rather sweep that stress point under the rug –– pretending that I don’t have body image issues. It’s a daily battle for me to get over my issues with looking at myself in the mirror. My heart is beating fast right now just typing this in anticipation that God is doing some work in me on this stress point. Lord, can’t we just skip this? NO!
So we will tackle this together...ok?
This stress point goes hand in hand with Day 2 Self Image. That inward focus and even obsession with my body steers me in all kinds of dark places in the depths of my heart and mind. I go down a long, dank road where I obsess over myself to the detriment of focusing on the throne of my amazing King.
I really must get over myself...get over this obsession...and make much of HIM.
Truth Point: Can I go anywhere apart from Your Spirit? Is there anywhere I can go to escape Your watchful presence? If I go up into heaven, You are there. If I make my bed in the realm of the dead, You are there. If I ride on the wings of morning, if I make my home in the most isolated part of the ocean, Even then You will be there to guide
me; Your right hand will embrace me, for You are always there. (Psalm 139: 7-10 THE VOICE)
From My Book Stress Point: Thriving Through Your Twenties In A Decade Of Drama
In Genesis when God, Elohim, flung stars in the sky, raised up mountains from flat land, molded a smoldering sun, hung the moon in the wide abyss of His outer space, and lovingly formed man out of His perfect image, our Creator displayed His creativity in majestic ways not to be out- done. With a heart full of admiration of our King, our Creator, we must not worship the creation—obsess about our body—but rather worship at the glorious throne of the Creator. For when my energy is spent picking and prodding at my self-perceived flaws, I distract my worship from the One who painted my eyes hazel, who tinted my skin a perfect shade of olive, who sculpted my hips with beautiful curves.
Over time, this concept has soaked into the fibers of my brain and it has caused me to rewire my thinking toward Him. I realize now that by concerning myself with my body’s imperfections, I’m constantly focused on myself and not on my Creator. This is a subtle form of idolatry that, over time, brings about full-on worship of ourselves rather than our magnificent King. This is not a productive way to spend our precious days here on the earth.
As I’ve grown closer to my Creator and allowed Him to show me all the ways He thinks I’m beautiful, a hard reality has revealed itself: by treat- ing my body poorly with the bingeing and purging and obsessive thoughts, I was flat out disobeying the very King I so desire to please. When I tear down my body with destructive behavior, I’m defiling His creation.
We wouldn’t look up at a rainbow and say, “Hmm . . . that red hue is not quite deep enough.” So why would we look at ourselves (His creation) and criticize our beautiful red hair whose every strand was painted by our Creator with care and craftsmanship?
We wouldn’t look with scorn at a stunningly grand oak tree and mock its extravagant height. So why would we look in the mirror and throw insults at our beautifully tall stature that our Creator framed just for us?
We wouldn’t kick a cuddly, innocent puppy. So why would we beat up our own body—the very body that reflects the creativity of our almighty King? (Stress Point page 60-61)
Life Point: I’m struggling typing the next few sentences ‘cause I don’t want to do what I’m about to encourage YOU to do. But, this will be so freeing and it is an incredible habit to form. What would happen if we rearranged how we look at ourselves in the mirror? What would happen if we turned our focus outward and toward our Creator? Instead of worshipping our bodies like idols (that is really what we are doing when we obsess about how much we don’t like our body) we will celebrate HIS creation.
So...take five minutes and stand in front of the mirror with a prayerful heart. This means we will take five minutes to observe what we see in the reflection and praise Jesus for it. I’m serious friends, this will be tough the first couple of time we do it. But lets develop a habit of loving our bodies as God’s beautiful artwork rather than tearing our bodies down and trashing God’s creation. Do this everyday for a week with an expectation that God will revive your body image. He is faithful when we get over our insecurities. He is faithful when we get over our destructive thought processes. He is faithful when we get over ourselves and...
Make much of HIM.
How did it go? Did you do the Life Point excercise? Leave a comment…let’s chat!
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Declaration: Today I am looking in the mirror and celebrating myself as God’s beautiful creation! #stresspointslifepoints www.liveitoutblog.com
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