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Transforming Our Thinking on Body Image

MARGARET AUSTIN | GUEST A New Year. The resolutions are scrolling across your news feed. Wellness influencers and “coaches” will scare you into buying their products and eating plans that promise to make you thinner! Younger! More energetic! Just cut sugar, gluten, dairy, carbs, and nightshades out of your diet and you’ll be detoxed! Your gut will be healed to perfection! But what does God say about your body? You probably already know that Psalm 139 says “you are fearfully and wonderfully made,” but what does that mean when you look in the mirror and don’t love what you see? When you see a photo of yourself from the holidays that you don’t like? How often do you bemoan sugar or carbs in front of your children, husband, or someone you mentor?  The Impact of Negative Body Messages This past spring, I had the opportunity to write and lead a Bible study on body image with a local dietician. When I asked women if they could remember the first negative body image message they received, the answers made me weep. Many could immediately point to the first message, often from childhood, and often from the lips of a close family member. Proverbs 18:21 says “the tongue has the power of LIFE and DEATH” (emphasis mine). The messaging runs deep. In 2026, do we want to learn to speak LIFE or DEATH over ourselves and our loved ones when it comes to the physical body?...

Transforming Our Thinking on Body Image2026-01-16T19:12:38+00:00

The Body Part 2: Embodied Living

TARA GIBBS|CONTRIBUTOR Have you heard the word “embodied” being used more in the last few years? If asked to define that word a few years ago, I would have defined it “represents” or “lives out” as in, “She embodies the values of her home church.” But people are talking a lot more these days about a different definition of embodiment, one that addresses what it means to inhabit our physical bodies. As we observe our culture today, we see more and more confusion about how much our physical body defines who we are. Modern culture seems increasingly inclined to separate identity from our physical reality. It is not uncommon today for someone to decide who they are by how they “feel,” divorced from the physical reality of their bodies. As Christians, we must continue to consider, “Do our physical bodies and what we do with them matter to God?”...

The Body Part 2: Embodied Living2023-03-24T17:50:18+00:00

Let’s Talk About Bodies

TARA GIBBS|CONTRIBUTOR How often do you think about your body? Constantly? Occasionally? Almost never? Some of us think about our bodies non-stop, often with shame: “My body is too fat,” “My body is too old,” “My body is too short,” “My body is too this or too that.” “I’ve got to get this body to the gym!” Most of us would agree we don’t need to spend our lives obsessing over whether we have an Instagram-influencer-worthy body, but that doesn’t mean we don’t struggle. Others of us may think bodies shouldn’t matter. They are earthly “tents” that are passing away, or they are “the flesh” we are to subdue. Perhaps we think our bodies are shameful. Sometimes we might think the solution to our body problems is to realize that bodies are unimportant. But is that what the Bible teaches about bodies? It can feel confusing to know how God wants us to think about our bodies. What is too much? What is too little? Are bodies spiritual or are bodies unspiritual?...

Let’s Talk About Bodies2023-03-24T17:51:37+00:00
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