I Work Out Therefore I Am

I don’t know about you (well, I probably do), but what others think of me and what I think of me makes its way into my mind often.  I’m not a freak about it, but I know people who are.  But just because I’m not overly sensitive about it doesn’t mean it’s all good.  I still deal with it FAR more than I should.  Think about how much it dominates our thinking.  Makeup, working out, dieting, mirrors, fashion, etc.  These things are not bad, but that all comes down to why we use them.  Are you putting on makeup in hopes that others will think more of you?  Do you workout so that your muscles will be noticed?  Are you dieting so you can attempt to look like Britney Spears pre-breakdown?  Are you doing any of these things because you don’t feel good enough as you?

All week the People Of The Second Chance proposed an idea to change our online self portraits to ones of us looking like the #realme to drive home the truth that the best you is the you that God created.  The Bible says in Genesis that when we were created, we were done so in God’s image.  We were made to look like Him.  We were made to resemble Him.  That is pretty freakin’ cool.  If we are made to look like Him as we already are, then why is it that we try so hard to look like someone else?  Yes, be healthy.  Yes, workout.  Yes, wear clothes that you enjoy and check yourself in the mirror before you leave because you just might have toilet paper stuck to your pants (as my grandma always worries).  Just don’t do those things for the wrong reasons.  God already created you to be the best you there is!  Finding your identity in Him and not what others think or worse sometimes, what you think, is the way to go!

I don’t know how many times I have not been happy with something about myself.  But what am I saying about God’s creation?  Does God suck at creating?  Did He have a food coma after lunch the day He picked my thyroid?  Was He leaning because of a hangover the day He made my legs and now one is longer than the other?  The answer is no.  He put thought, effort and love into creating your face, your nose, your big toe, and your cowlicks.  He made you you on purpose.

Image is a big deal.  We live in a society that is completely wrapped up in it.  But there is only one image we should be wrapped up in.  God’s.  After all, that’s how we were created.