5 things about Body Image every Christian needs to know

This blog post covers the 5 things about body image every Christian needs to know – these are lessons I learned about body image the hard way. Now I want to share them with you as points to ponder and pray about.

As a Christian woman, you need to know these 5 things about body image:

• It says something about your faith.
• It could be a sin issue.
• Body Objectification. It’s a thing and it’s NOT OK.
• It’s not all about you.
• The solution is not what you think.

If you’d rather listen than read, check out my interview on Kingdom Mamas Podcast where I shared this message my friend Trudy Lonesky.

(1) YOUR BODY IMAGE SAYS SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR FAITH

I’ve realized our body image struggles say something about our faith. Before I just thought it said something about my body – this is what I think of myself, this is what I want others to think of me, this is how I treat it with clothes, makeup, and food.

But body image has more to say.

A struggle with body image reveals deeper heart issues

Thinking your body image struggles only have to do with your body is a very superficial view. It’s actually revealing deeper issues in our heart. And it says something about our faith.

I figured this one out in my own life by looking back on my season of dieting: striving and chasing after this ideal that I thought I needed to be to have value. When I peeled off all the layers and got down to the root of it – dieting was me trying to earn love. That was me trying to earn acceptance or earn approval.

I can see it now, that is just a shallow understanding of grace.

I still have to remind myself though, if I think I am here to earn something, that is not how it works.

Do you have a shallow understanding of the gospel?

We really have to look at the way God loves – which is unconditionally, when we don’t deserve it.

When we don’t “measure up” to worldly standards of “good”, He still loves us and sees us as good because of Jesus. We don’t earn anything. It’s a free gift of grace.

So we get to root everything back to this proper understanding of love and how we can live.

I can live like I am loved by God. I can live like I do believe that.

Are you believing lies over truth?

Some of you might be saying, “Oh yeah, I know that’s how God loves”. But like, are you acting like it?

What lies are you believing in the day-to-day that are winning out over truth?

Is it this lie that “you need to be thin to be healthy”? Is it the lie that you “need to be thin to be happy”? Those are LIES.

I’m totally guilty of this. These lies were my baseline of operations for so many years. I was believing those worldly ideas that are not true- that are lies from the enemy – over God’s truth.

Now that I have some space and reflect on it, years later, I can see that I was not believing truth. I was not rooted in my faith. I was not operating from a biblical worldview.

I never would’ve guessed that my struggles with my body image would’ve said something about my faith. I always would’ve just said, okay, that just that’s that’s body stuff. And I’m here to tell you it’s deeper than that.

(2) YOUR STRUGGLE WITH BODY IMAGE COULD BE A SIN ISSUE

Did you know that your body image struggles could be pointing you to a sin issue?

I can’t tell you if you have an idol… I can just tell you that I did.

Understanding idolatry was something that the Lord was revealing to me as He was doing this work in my life. I guess I had an Old Testament view of idols. I probably said to myself – well I don’t have a golden calf, so I’m good.

The amount of time, money and energy that I was putting into looking a certain way was staggering. When I get really honest with it, weight loss was my goal. That’s what I was seeking. That came first to me.

When body image becomes an idol (my story)

I was believing the false gospel of weight loss. That’s what I thought was going to save me. That’s what I thought would bring me peace. That’s what I thought would bring me joy.

I forgot.

Jesus is our salvation. Jesus is our peace. Jesus is our joy.

The idol is never going to satisfy you. And it’s really separating you. It’s like this wedge between you and God.

The conviction that I felt when the Lord called me out on making dieting and my body image an idol on that was such a gift.

Idolatry is a scary topic and it’s kind of hard to swallow, but if that’s what’s going on then it’s actually a good thing because you know what the solution is.

If you’ve got a sin problem, the solution is there and it’s just repentance and just returning to the Lord.

Modern day idols

It can be hard to really think through idolatry. But try to just ask yourself, are you putting anything before God?

If you’re like me, the question would be are you putting workouts before God? Are you putting appearance before God? Are you putting the scale before God?

My friend Trudy Lonesky always used the terminology of “little g gods” when talking about idols.

That terminology spoke to me massively when we were walking through that together. The concept and the word of idolatry is a little bit on the fringe or a little bit foreign. It’s just not as easy to wrap your head around, but something about “little g gods” helped me to see things differently.

I encourage you to take a close look at your relationship with food and body and try and spot any “little g gods” that might be trying to pop up – those skinny jeans in the back of your closet, a goal weight number, a before/after transformation photo. Beware the little g!

You can’t separate your physical health from your spiritual health

The other part of body image becoming a sin issue is when you’re trying to separate your physical health from your spiritual health.

What does this look like? This happens when we say OK my body’s over here, this is my own little kingdom. I don’t need to bring God into this. Let me just work this out myself.

Thinking that we can treat our bodies this way and act as if that is separate from your relationship with God is a disconnect in so many ways.

We need to approach health holistically and not have the audacity to think that we could separate our physical health in a way that wouldn’t affect our spiritual health.

If you do try to keep your physical health for yourself and away from God, your spiritual health is going to suffer. You are not going to be close to the Lord in that. If you’re over in the corner, hoarding this one little thing for yourself, you’re literally distancing yourself from the Lord with that.

My friend Andrea Bourgeois had this concept serve as her wake up call. I remember her telling me, I had given God everything. I gave him my marriage. I gave him my child. I gave him my finances, my relationships, but I hadn’t given him this. And that’s when I realized I had a problem.

Maybe you need to pray through this today sister. Is this a sin issue for you?

It’s actually great if it is since you know just what to do!

I am not here to condemn you. I am here to come alongside you and encourage you that recognizing this sin issue was the biggest the turning point of my life, health and faith.

(3) BODY OBJECTIFICATION

The third thing that I needed to learn on this body image journey was about body objectification – just this way of looking at bodies. And I’m not just talking about my body. I’m talking about everybody. Pun intended.

The body image comparison trap is rooted in insecurity and objectification

Tell me if you’ve ever done this… You walk into a room and you do a little visual sweep of the room and you’re sizing up – literally, figuratively- the other people there. How do I look compared to this person? Whose outfit is cute? Who is thinner than me? Who’s bigger than me? Who’s taller than me? Who looks like they are trying that new diet craze I just saw on social media?

When we do this we are looking at people but we are looking at them like an object – you’re not looking at the person, you’re not seeing the heart, you’re looking at a body. You’re comparing a body and judging bodies.

Your body is not an object

We would be mortified if our husbands were doing this since it’s checking out women. Actually, I was checking out women. Oops! This is a wrong view of bodies in general because they’re not objects.

Our bodies are not objects. Our bodies are not a project to work on. They’re not this thing to be sculpted and to get down to a certain size. They’re not made to look a certain way that you are in charge of. Your body is not this thing that you control to your standards.

That terrible way of thinking is such a trap. We have to start looking at bodies in a totally different way.

The world teaches us to scan the room and size people up. That’s what we are conditioned to do.

Even when we’re not doing this in person, we’re doing it on social media. It seems like everything on social media is comparison. We find ourselves looking at people’s outfits, how they look in the outfits, what they’re eating, what they’re doing constantly. It’s too much.

Social media takes it to a whole new level because everyone posts their highlight reel, the best version of themselves, filtered on top of it. So what we are seeing and comparing and objectifying is not reality.

Even beyond the comparison issue, if we’re looking at bodies this way and objectifying them, we are not seeing the person and we are definitely not treating what we are looking at as if it’s an image bearer of God.

What scripture says about your body

We need to start looking at bodies – our own body included – in the same way that God looks at bodies. We need this perspective shift to see the body is not an object.

If the body is not an object, then what is it? Scripture tells us our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. They are not our own. They were bought at a price. And so we are supposed to honor God with our bodies.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (ESV)

Scripture also tells us that our bodies are to be offered as a living sacrifice.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers,[a] by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1 (ESV)

So, we can think of our bodies as not this thing, this object, but as a vessel.

Our body is a vessel for the Holy Spirit. It’s an instrument that allows us to go out and be offered as a living sacrifice, to go and be instrument of the Lord, to go and be his hands and feet in this world.

So we can look at the body as our vehicle for being servants, instead of our value and instead of our identity.

You are IN your body. You live there, for now. It is a gift. It is for serving the Lord.

It’s not for fitting into a certain size of jeans. It’s not meant to be molded into a certain ideal that the world says is good.

We have to start treating our bodies not as objects, but as instruments of God.

That was a massive, perspective shift for me, because I basically operated for 20 plus years by objectifying myself and objectifying any other woman I saw. I was just not looking at it in a Biblical way, but instead looking at it in a very worldly, judgmental way. That’s just such a sad and shallow way to move through the world.

If I’m being completely honest, this way of seeing bodies is completely new and completely foreign to me. I’m completely still struggling with this.

Like I always says with intuitive eating, it’s like we’re unlearning a lifetime of doing something a certain way and re-learning a new way. It’s a process. This is a daily thing that we have to check ourselves on.

In this new way of seeing, we want to focus on the good and see beyond the surface.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Philipians 4:8 (NIV)

We’re looking to see the person rather than just the body. We’re looking for the good in that person.

We’re looking to connect with the fact that they are an image bearer of God. They were made in the image of God and they may be your next opportunity to go out and serve the Lord.

If we’re looking at them and just saying, wow, she’s got really sculpted arms, you might not want to go over there and get in a conversation that gives you a chance to share your testimony or just bless them with kind words and a smile.

When we have these objectification goggles on, we’re missing out on so much and it’s impeding our ability to glorify and enjoy God, which is what we’re here to do.

(4) IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT YOU

It’s not all about you.

I was stuck here for so long.

This was mind blowing because I thought in all of this dieting and body image stuff, I was really trying to get confident. I thought if I just felt good in my skin, then I would be confident, and then I could do all the things that I want to do in life.

I’ve realized now how self-focused that is. For all of my dieting years, I was just thinking about myself, my body, what weight loss is going to mean for me and what I was going to do after I achieved it. I was making it all about me.

For years, I was not even seeing the impact this self-focus was having in the rest of my life. I was so stuck on getting my way, that I was not even aware of other people.

Body image is not some small, personal problem. It affects your whole life and those around you.

The gospel really challenges us to be God-centered and others-centered, not self centered.

This is another massive way that breaking free from our body image struggles is a huge unlearning and relearning process. This is a huge shift in perspective.

It’s countercultural. Because this culture tells us everything is about us. Social media isn’t helping.

Me, me, me, me, me. Let me glorify myself.

Let me take us through a few examples here to show how it’s not all about you. See if you relate to any of these scenarios.

Children

You can’t even go for a swim with your kids because you don’t want to wear the bathing suit. It’s not all about you. It’s not about how you look in the bathing suit.

Your kid just wants to have some fun. You’re missing out on making that memory with your child because you’re focusing on yourself and your body. And it’s not all about you.

Husband

What about this one? You don’t want to have a special date night and experience intimacy with your husband because you’re not having a good day and you don’t like how you look right now.

Maybe you caught a sideways glance in the mirror and you think, oh no, there’s no way I am ever doing this today, I better start a new diet immediately. So you miss out on connecting with your husband because of how YOU feel about you.

But it’s not all about you. Intimacy and marriage is not about you. It’s about serving and loving the other person.

Friend

Maybe you’ve missed going out for a girl’s night a time or two. You had to skip fajitas and margaritas with your friends because you can’t figure out what you can eat at that restaurant. It’s off the meal plan and you’re too stressed about how many times you think you’ll have to go to the gym to deal with that.

But it’s not about you and your meal plan, it’s about connection: loving on your friends and connecting with them and spending time with them to show them you care.

These are extreme examples of foregoing something because you’ve made it all about you. But the other way we do this is by technically participating, but not really being present.

So maybe you get in the pool, but you’re not even playing with your child because you’re thinking about your swimsuit the whole time.

Or you’re on the date night with your husband, but you can’t even hear what he says because you’re thinking about how you look constantly. Does he still find you attractive?

Or you go out to dinner with the girls and you’re not even in the conversation because you’re plotting the clean meals and workouts that you have to do tomorrow to compensate.

This body image struggle steals our life and makes it all about us, when it’s actually not all about us.

It’s NOT all about you or your body!

You are not alone in your body image struggle

To be clear, everything I’m saying here I’m preaching to myself. This is a “teach what you need to learn” scenario. You’re not alone in your body image struggle because I’m in it with you.

There is no finish line this side of heaven, and that’s OK. That let’s us be messy and struggle honestly, together.

(5) THE SOLUTION IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK

Another powerful lesson on body image that I learned the hard way is the solution to our body image struggles is not what we might think.

For so long I thought the solution to my body image struggles was to change my body. But as we’ve touched on already, the solution is not to change your body, it’s to change how you see your body.

This is a perspective shift issue. This is an eyes of faith issue.

Once I could recognize that my body image struggle was a spiritual problem, not a physical problem, I knew what I needed was a spiritual solution.

I learned the hard way that no physical “solution” of dieting, the perfect outfit, a makeover – none of that stuff ever works.

The spiritual solution is giving all of that to Jesus. Laying down the beauty ideal. Surrendering the goal weight.

Think about how opposite that is from diet culture’s and the world’s solution, which is hold it as tightly as you can and squeeze it until it looks the way you want.

But we’re supposed to open our hands and lay it at the feet of Jesus.

It’s a process, it’s not something that happens overnight.

Diet Culture promises 21 days to a new you.

I must admit, the 21 day thing has gotten me so many times. I had a season where it consumed me – it was 21 days and then the next month it’s 21 days again. And then it’s another 21 days.

The solution is not to change your body but change how you see your body

The process of learning that the hard way was something that I wouldn’t trade because honestly, sometimes you just have to learn the hard way. You couldn’t have told me this. If I had heard somebody say this to me, I don’t know if I would’ve listened.

I had to have the Lord grab me by the shoulders, shake me up a little bit and be like, listen!

So whenever I share my story I’m praying that this might be the seed that the Lord’ is planting to let you know,

A spiritual problem requires a spiritual solution.

Look at it again. Let’s let’s think critically about it. Let’s bring the Lord into that process because it’s a process and you, you have to start your journey somewhere.

I think once we start to really look at all of these issues with our faith with the Lord and pray through it and just surrender it.

That’s the work we get to do. It’s a daily process and a daily surrender.

My dear friend Trudy had to be in a place where she was receptive to hearing this message. She shares that the Lord put it on her heart, Trudy, what are you doing? You have this little girl and she’s watching you step on this scale every morning and hate yourself. Do you really want her to live her life like this? Her answer was no. But her heart was also open enough to then say, God tell me what to do.

God is so good.

He met us both in our body image struggles right where we were.

Many of us can recognize that the body image struggle is a problem and we want to do something differently to change it. But the kind of solution that we want or that we expects is a checklist, because that’s what we’ve been working with in diet culture. God doesn’t give checklists like that.

You have to walk out the step that’s in front of you and trust that he’s going to give you the next step after that.

That is such a beautiful integration of this healing journey with our faith, because He is leading it and we have to rely on that. We can’t jump ahead to step 10 and check all the boxes. This is a one day at a time thing. That is so like our walk with the Lord!

I honestly don’t know how any woman could experience healing in body image without the Lord. The faith aspect of this healing work is such a amazing blessing.

He is going to meet each and every one of us in a different way, because when we peel back the layers of why are we striving? we have different wounds and we have different heart problems that He’s going to heal differently. So there’s no checklist.

It’s a constant Lord, what are you teaching me today? If I’m going through this, I need to be going through this in this moment. You are here to teach me, Lord so what is it that I need to learn?

So those are the 5 things about body image every Christian needs to know. I share these lessons with you in the hopes that you won’t have to learn them the hard way, like I did.

Which of these 5 points is the hardest for you to swallow? Were there any that were not on your radar?

Let these points challenge you to think about your body image struggles in a new light and begin to see the solution with eyes of faith.

Let’s pray:

Lord, thank you for the special opportunity for my sister-in-Christ Trudy and I to come together and just praise you and celebrate the healing you have done in both of our lives and how that has poured out into our families. Lord, thank you for just the opportunity to share what you have done with other women. I pray that this message points to you, Lord, I pray that your holy spirit is just going to stir the souls of women listening Lord, and with just gentle conviction, give them eyes of faith to see any body image struggles that may or may not be sin. I just ask that you move in this area of their life, begin to speak to them. Use this message to speak into their lives. Give them ears to hear what you’re telling them about body image and food. Give them eyes of faith to see bodies in the way that you created them to be seen. Lord, let all of your truth and light wash over us and just let us receive this amazing grace that you have given us and let it begin to restore and heal our relationships with our body. And most of all, our relationships with you, Lord. In Jesus name. Amen.