World's Opinion of You

 By: Grace Metzger

I appeal to your therefore, brothers, 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

This is not my favorite topic of discussion and something that I definitely am struggling with writing, however this is something that I knew I needed to write as soon as I read this verse. My thoughts on my body are not always positive, sadly they are rarely positive. This is something that I know that every single person struggles with to some extent. 

Why is this? Why is this such a common thing to have such negativity and hatred towards your own body? There are a million answers that jump to my mind, things like social media, companies promoting products that let you use 100 pounds in 100 days, etc. There are so many examples of how our world is corrupting our minds that it honestly exhausting for me to think about them.

Do you not know that you are God's

temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV

So how do we stop these thoughts? How can we possibly stop them when the whole world is forcing us to have these thoughts?? I wish I had a one step solution that is super easy and can be done in five minutes. However, nothing easy lasts so sometimes we have to go the long, difficult routes. There isn't even just one route for everyone, from what I found some people have to take much more dramatic route then others.

For me it was to learn how to see myself as God's daughter. The world is consistently telling us what we need to fix, how we need to fix it, and what diet is the best. So for me I started going into nature, as silly as it sounds, it helped me get started on path to remembering I'm God's daughter. When I am out in nature I get to see how beautiful the world is, from seeing a crane during my walk, to finding flowers in a field. I saw how much detail and beauty God added to His creations. If God put that much effort into something as simple as a flower, how much effort did He put into creating me?

Finding your own path into removing the world's influence on you might be difficult but it creates a huge impact on your life. When you learn to see yourself as someone that God put time and love into, then you'll notice changes in your life. From changing your eating habits, to becoming comfortable in your own skin. Maybe your path is to delete social media, to completely and totally remove that influence on your life. Maybe your path is to get more into God's Word, by reading about His love you can learn to see yourself as His beloved child. 

I implore you to start finding your path, to start putting in the effort to removing those awful thoughts. You might not think it's a big deal, you might not see the affect it has on your life. But when you see all the small parts of your life it changes, like how your eating habits are turning unhealthy or how your thoughts are also becoming your daughters thoughts. When you see all of that then you will see why it is important. 

Discussion Questions: What do you do when the worlds thoughts become your own?