It seems so strange writing a message on caring too much about our physical appearance when I myself have been working out and recreationally bodybuilding for so long. But that is exactly why God is having me write about it. I have been there. I have lived the life of trying to physically impress people. I know it can be your God.
I have been lifting weights and working out off and on for 30 years…just seems crazy to think about. I am so thankful to have grown up with family that owned a gym. I had two uncles that competed in bodybuilding and I was just fascinated with how much weight they lifted and how they looked. It lit a desire and passion in me that has never went out. I don’t lift for all the same reasons I used to and its importance to me has dropped off quite a bit, but I still enjoy one of the main reasons I fell in love with it…it’s very challenging! It requires hard work, discipline, self-control, and patience. In this way, it mirrors the way a child of God should act. Obeying God and following Him is by far the hardest thing I have ever attempted in my life. But like anything in life, the harder you have to work for something, the greater the reward. Working hard for God is not so much about physically working as it is about denying yourself and learning to live a spirit life in a physical world. My physical body is dying. My spirit body will live on. One day I will be judged…not for how good I looked, how much weight I lost, or how much weight I lifted. I will be judged on how I lived my life; what was most important to me.
Some people put all their hope and energy into looking good and impressing people, for what? Confidence? Attraction? Praise? Why do we want to impress people so much? What is it that drives us to love attention and adoration? We all desire to be loved because it’s part of God’s design. But because Satan hates God, he tries to get us to meet our desires and needs apart from God. Satan tells us if we dress a certain way, or lose a certain amount of weight, we will be wanted or accepted. Satan tells us others will love us, respect us, and think highly of us based on our outward appearance. On a superficial level this is true. The world will judge you on what you look like. But that judgement is meaningless. If we need to hear praise from people to make us feel good about ourselves than we don’t know God. If we know God His love will be made complete in us and we won’t need affirmation from anyone. We will be able to stand the storms of testing when they come because we know we are loved by our Father in Heaven.
I have been lifting weights and working out off and on for 30 years…just seems crazy to think about. I am so thankful to have grown up with family that owned a gym. I had two uncles that competed in bodybuilding and I was just fascinated with how much weight they lifted and how they looked. It lit a desire and passion in me that has never went out. I don’t lift for all the same reasons I used to and its importance to me has dropped off quite a bit, but I still enjoy one of the main reasons I fell in love with it…it’s very challenging! It requires hard work, discipline, self-control, and patience. In this way, it mirrors the way a child of God should act. Obeying God and following Him is by far the hardest thing I have ever attempted in my life. But like anything in life, the harder you have to work for something, the greater the reward. Working hard for God is not so much about physically working as it is about denying yourself and learning to live a spirit life in a physical world. My physical body is dying. My spirit body will live on. One day I will be judged…not for how good I looked, how much weight I lost, or how much weight I lifted. I will be judged on how I lived my life; what was most important to me.
Some people put all their hope and energy into looking good and impressing people, for what? Confidence? Attraction? Praise? Why do we want to impress people so much? What is it that drives us to love attention and adoration? We all desire to be loved because it’s part of God’s design. But because Satan hates God, he tries to get us to meet our desires and needs apart from God. Satan tells us if we dress a certain way, or lose a certain amount of weight, we will be wanted or accepted. Satan tells us others will love us, respect us, and think highly of us based on our outward appearance. On a superficial level this is true. The world will judge you on what you look like. But that judgement is meaningless. If we need to hear praise from people to make us feel good about ourselves than we don’t know God. If we know God His love will be made complete in us and we won’t need affirmation from anyone. We will be able to stand the storms of testing when they come because we know we are loved by our Father in Heaven.
A compliment from a friend can be like putting makeup over our blemishes. It may make us feel better about ourselves for a moment, but like all things in the physical world that moment will fade. But if we cover our imperfections with the praise of Jesus Christ, our spiritual bodies will shine like the stars forever.
The world’s ways are always backwards from God’s ways because the world is controlled by satan. 2 Corinthians 4:4 “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe.” If the world tells you that what you look like matters it’s because God says it does not matter. If the world says that what people think about you matters it’s because God says it does not matter. We often won’t leave the house without looking a certain way but when it comes to obeying God we pick and choose what we hear. Do we not know this make us ugly in God’s sight?
If you believe in God it’s because He has chosen you. If He has chosen you He alone wants to make you feel loved and adored. If you believe yet look to the world to feel wanted, the world is all you will ever find. You can attend church, pray, and serve people all day long, but without knowing God it is in vain. God won‘t compete. Many think they know God but they do not. Many people say they love God yet they don’t live in the truth. To know God we must surrender everything. To love God we must obey His every word.
Luke 6:46 "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?
John 14:23 Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”
Matthew 7:14 “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.’…
If you believe in God it’s because He has chosen you. If He has chosen you He alone wants to make you feel loved and adored. If you believe yet look to the world to feel wanted, the world is all you will ever find. You can attend church, pray, and serve people all day long, but without knowing God it is in vain. God won‘t compete. Many think they know God but they do not. Many people say they love God yet they don’t live in the truth. To know God we must surrender everything. To love God we must obey His every word.
Luke 6:46 "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?
John 14:23 Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”
Matthew 7:14 “But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.’…
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