As a woman, I often find myself getting overwhelmed with my insecurities about my appearance and wishing that I looked differently somehow. My skin, my body, my pant size, my hair, you name it. I have allowed insecurities to embed the deepest part of who I am because for so long, I fed them, and I slowly began to believe the lies that the enemy was constantly whispering in my ear.
I have allowed myself to fall into the seemingly endless traps of the lies of Satan, and, for me, this is almost always in regards to my appearance which ultimately influences the level of my self-esteem.
I spent many years believing that I had to weigh a certain number on the scale or be a certain size in jeans to be worthy of love from anyone, let alone to be okay with myself as a person. I believed that I could never show a blemish of acne on my skin, and that my hair always had to look perfectly put-together in order to be considered attractive by others which was ultimately (or, at least I thought at the time) what let me know that I was worthy of something. It was how I knew I was an okay person, a “decently” attractive human, and, if I wasn’t any other level of attractive, as long as I was “skinny”, I was okay. This is very regretful for me to admit to you as I spent many years never fully realizing the foundational truth of my identify in Christ, but I must admit that it is true.
I wasted a LOT of time trying to be “good enough” for society in most all areas regarding my appearance, but especially in the area of my weight. I spent a lot of my energy trying to always eat healthy/perfectly, and made sure I worked out 6 days a week so that I could be in “perfect” shape. I did this because, well, I just wanted to be good enough. I just wanted to feel worthy of love and if from no one else in the word, at least from my own self. I wanted so badly and so deeply to LOVE myself for who I was, but come to find out that trying to altar who you are and what you look like in an effort to “approve” or your own self doesn’t exactly work out so well. No matter how much weight I lost or how much longer I worked out the day after eating [what felt like] a lot, it was never. good. enough. Ever.
This post is especially for the ladies but at the same time, it’s not JUST for them. This is for men and women alike, who struggle with self-image on some level or another. This post is to encourage you to stop living every day of your life trying to look perfect, and spending all of your energy trying to impress someone else (or even yourself) based on your looks. This post is to REMIND you that you are ALL sons and daughters of God, make in the workmanship of Christ Jesus, and you do not have to try so hard to look a certain way to be “enough”.
Very fitting for this post is the verse of the day on my YouVersion Bible App:
Psalm 139:13: “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous – how well I know it”, (NLT).
Dearest friends, our Heavenly Father has created us with the most gracious love we could ever imagine, and every little intricate details of our bodies, minds and hearts were knitted together by him.
When we REALIZE who we are in Christ and UNDERSTAND the identity that defines us as being sons and daughters of God, we are finally free to stop trying so desperately and endlessly hard to be “good enough”. Believe me, I know this from my own experience, and I spent WAY too long in my own life trying to altar my body in an effort to make me love myself. I actually BELIEVED that weighing a certain number on the scale, having clear skin, and having hair that always stayed in place would be what enabled me to actually LOVE myself for who I was.
Looking back, I realize now how little sense it makes for me to try to build my own self-love through a foundation of physical appearance. I realize now that I love myself only by first loving Christ, and comprehending the reality of his unending love for me. When we realize how much Christ loves us and just how intricately we were handcrafted by him, THAT is when we will begin to love ourselves. We can only love ourselves when we comprehend the reality of our identify in Christ as sons and daughters of the most high God. We will love ourselves when we realize in the deepest core of our being just how much Christ loves us. If he handcrafted us in his own image, how can we possibly look in the mirror and think anything even remotely negative about ourselves? If God formed us in the exact way that he wanted us to be created, how could we possibly believe that there is anything about us that is anything less than a masterpiece of Christ?
Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them”, (ESV).
Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago”, (NLT).
My friends, I hope that after reading this post you are encouraged and reminded of how so dearly loved and cherished you are by Christ. Please never believe the lie that who you are is anything less than the amazingly handcrafted masterpiece of a unique son or daughter of the most high king, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Stop believing the lie that you are not “good enough”, and recognize the reality that you are enough in Christ.
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