Honoring God with My Body

By: Grace Metzger

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters,
in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies
as a living sacrifice, Holy and please to God-
this is your true and proper worship.
Romans 12:1 NIV

I’ve heard this verse millions of times, heard people preaching about how our bodies are temples for Christ, heard sermons and devotionals all on this one verse. But hearing all of that never connected fully to me. My relationship with my body has never been the best, which is something I’m slowly realizing is quite common nowadays.

On TikTok, I see video after video on the best work out routines, people advising me to do this diet, and thousands of filters that change my face to what the world says is the “correct” way to look. This isn’t healthy in the slightest and I’ve noticed how this has impacted me. I’m not the only one that is being affected like this, the popular topic currently at my job is surgeries to get skinny and the new weight loss pill someone is taking.

Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for
I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things
the way you see them. People judge by outward
appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart
1 Samuel 16:7 NLT

People have always been focused on outward appearances, although in my opinion it has gotten worse with the rise of social media. However, in 1 Samuel God is reminding us that it’s not other people we are trying to please. I’m not living my life for some random stranger on the street to be happy I look a certain way. I’m living my life so God is happy that my heart looks like His.

Don’t you realize that your body is the temple
of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given
to you by God? You do not belong to yourself.
1 Corinthians 6:19 NLT

We are God’s temple. Do you realize what an honor that is? Because of this we don’t belong to ourselves. We are called to take care of these bodies for God. In fact, this verse expands even further on this, in 1 Corinthians 6:20 it says, “You must honor God with your body.”

Starving yourself, hating your body, and changing yourself isn’t honoring God with your body. We can do this in a healthy way. Learning to love the body God gave you is a long and hard process, something I still am working on to be totally honest. But whenever you are starting to have negative thoughts about yourself I want you to ask yourself, “Are these thoughts honoring God?” If the answer is no, then we need to put those thoughts away. Change those thoughts to something positive. What has worked with me is thinking, “God gave me this body so I will not hate it.” Saying that over and over and over again will start to change the way you think. The world will always have it’s opinions on our appearances but we choose to shift our focus from that to God’s opinion on us. And God says we are beautifully and wonderfully made.

Discussion Questions:

1.) Have you noticed social media affecting the way you see yourself?

2.) What do you do when you start having negative thoughts about yourself?