Pls this is a must read: Am not a lady,but trust me this will help a lady out there: I pull up my jeans and they stretch over my thighs, a bit snug. Immediately my frenemies, those words that have been with me these long thirty-something years, come for a visit. I sigh and let their hurtful words wash over my mind. “You need to lose weight. You aren’t worth anything. You are so ugly,” they whisper in their mocking voice. I head to a party and I see her. She looks great, and rather than being happy for her, rather than saying the words I know would make her day, I invite my insidious pals back into my head for a pow-wow. “I need to cut back. I can’t enjoy this food. I have to start running again. I’m no good,” they shriek with increasing volume. I push the grocery cart through the gauntlet of magazines. The latest and greatest new perfect-looking celebrity has lost weight. Doesn’t she look amazing? The glossy photos call to me, their siren song of, “You’re not good enough. If only you’d try this one thing.….” And so it goes. Maybe you’re thinking, what does she have to worry about, she’s slim. I’m so tired of thin girls crying about your weight. I hear you. But I want to point this out: SHAME KNOWS NO SIZE. Shaming words don’t care if you are size two or twenty-two, size four or forty-four. They speak to us the same. Shame has been with me each and every day. Until now. I’m done. I’m so done. I’m declaring war on my selfish, self-focused pride. The pride that says my worth is tied to my weight, rather than to the One who died for me. I’m done looking at myself, instead of at Him. As Tim Keller says, “By comparing ourselves to other people and trying to make ourselves look better than others, we are boasting. Trying to recommend ourselves, trying to create a self-esteem resume because we are desperate to fill our sense of inadequacy and emptiness. The ego is so busy. So busy all the time.” {The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness} My ego has been too busy and it has left me deflated and exhausted. Looking at the Gospel and God’s glory, on the other hand, leaves me feeling full. “Because the essence of gospel-humility is not thinking more of myself or thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less….A truly gospel-humble person is not a self-hating person or a self-loving person, but a gospel-humble person.” {Tim Keller, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness} I want that. I want to be neither a self-hating person or a self-loving person. I want to be a gospel-humble person. Here is my prescription: 1. Take a good hard look at the Gospel and God’s glory. Let His glory expand and let Him become BIG in my heart and life. Worship HIM instead of myself. 2. Focus on what really matters…eternity, and not my booty. 2. Take those thoughts captive. Kick them out. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” Romans 12:2 3. Believe this: My worth is NOT equal to my weight. Look to Christ for my worth and nothing else. “I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Psalm 139:14 4. Walk in freedom! Live in the light and love of God’s amazing grace! What does this mean for me? A lot more grace for my body. A lot more acceptance. A lot more, well, maybe a lot more booty. If you see me, my booty might be a bit bigger, but so is my view of God’s glory.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 06:02:19 +0000
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