Body and Soul: God’s Masterpiece-Shaped By Faith

This is the first of what we hope will be many articles by Theresa Rowe. You can find out more about Theresa by going to www.shapedbyfaith.com.  If the words below don't get you motivated to begin taking care of yourself, you had better check your pulse.

Body and Soul

God’s masterpiece

 Most of us complain about being too busy or there’s just not enough time in the day. Even with our frantic lifestyle, we still find time to complain about our bodies. My nose is too big or it is too small. My hips are too big, well, you get the picture. Take a moment and ask yourself, how often does your mind reflect on your own body image in the course of a day? Then ask yourself, how often do you spend time in God’s word learning what he has to say about your body? Is it a few minutes, a few hours or not at all?

When we focus or speak aloud to others on how much we dislike our bodies, we are actually insulting our creator. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying we do not need to take care of our bodies. If you have put on extra weight from not exercising or not eating healthy, we definitely need to steer ourselves back on the road to wellness. Christians need to pay close attention to their physical bodies, so they can be about God’s work. There are really no excuses, God expects us to care for his creation. We must be careful to avoid the unhealthy, toxic mindset of the person who exercises most days of the week and still complains about the size of their hips, thighs, arms, legs or weight. We must be diligent to remember, God is pleased with our bodies when we are doing all we can to keep them healthy. We must be consistently mindful to act in faith and believe in our hearts that God has fearfully and wonderfully created us for his purposes. We must learn to appreciate and enjoy the body he gave us for the journey.

God’s word says in Ephesians 2:10, we are God’s masterpiece. How can God’s masterpiece seem so imperfect to us? Rembrandt, one of the greatest artists of all time, painted several masterpieces during his long, illustrious career. Typically an artist from that century would paint up to a dozen self portraits. In Rembrandt’s case, he painted over ninety self portraits over a forty year period. Rembrandt created a visual diary of his life for mankind. He was certainly not the most handsome of men and his physique was not physically attractive or fit. I believe he recognized man as a masterpiece, reflecting on his own image on each canvas or sketch. It fascinates me that he chose to paint himself exactly how he looked. As he grew older and heavier, he painted the man he saw in the mirror. Some scholars believe Rembrandt felt that he truly had to know himself and his inner man. Perhaps he painted himself over and over again as a seventeenth century marketing ploy? Whatever the reason, I doubt he ever thought his hips were too big.

The most famous artist of all time created Rembrandt, just as he created each of us, for his glory. God has designed each of us exactly as he wanted us to look. Speaking negative words about your own body image, when you are working to keep yourself healthy, is toxic to the body of Christ. If you truly believe in your heart that God’s word is the truth, then place his words on your lips. If you do not know what God has to say about you, open his book and you will be encouraged.