I don’t know what it is about us women hating our bodies. As a teenager I thought I was ugly because my body was as flat as a pancake. Even as a woman in my 20’s, I hated the way I looked. And then my red hair became a liability when I was brutally attacked. I’m surprised I didn’t blimp out into a huge fat person because I felt so yucky about my body.
I’ve known drop-dead gorgeous women who hate their bodies. I think this is a universal problem. Women on TV are on severely restricted diets and ALL of them are wearing push-up bras. What you see on TV and magazines is often fake, airbrushed to perfection. How on earth we are supposed to measure up to all that is beyond me.
So drop it. Love who you are. And if you are a child of God, that begins with the core of your being. (If you don’t understand your actual value in Christ, please read this article.) In the deepest part of your being, you desire to please God. You are a new creation; you are fresh and clean.
God has you on this earth for a purpose. Ask God what that purpose is. Most people never accomplish their purpose in life because they never yield their entire lives to Christ. They just trust Him for salvation, and then lead a selfish life of misery. They’re scared of sanctification, or growing in holiness, because the enemy has deceived them into saying, “I don’t want to change.” You don’t have to change yourself. That’s what God is for. It’s supposed to be a miracle. Stop trying to do it yourself and ask God to do the work in you.
The sin in your life is what drives people away from you, by the way. The closer you are to Christ, the more beautiful your face looks.
Okay, so inside you are beautiful because you are a new creation in Christ. Now let’s talk about the outer shell, the body that you’re stuck with.
No matter how huge your body is, no matter how many warts or sags or whatever else you don’t like, if you start taking care of your body by exercising, you will gradually look better, and you will see the improvement in yourself. This is the same with sanctification. When you get rid of sin in your life, you will gradually radiate beauty.
My husband always told me that sexiness was a state of mind. When I feel attractive, I AM attractive. So you can begin to accept the raw material that God has given you. Who you are TODAY, right now, is unique and valuable. You can be pretty right this second by taking care of yourself.
Gluttony deserves a whole separate article, and I don’t have time to address it right now. The Bible has a lot to say about gluttony. Look it up in a concordance. If you are married, your body actually belongs to your husband (I Corinthians 7:4-5). So if you don’t take care of your body, you are disobeying God, and you need to repent. This is not optional. You need to at least try to take care of your body. If you’ve given up, that’s wrong.
So yes, you need to accept what God has given you, but that doesn’t mean don’t change. Because if you are gradually becoming a better person inside and out, it will be easier for you to accept who you are.
