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By Posted on Posted in Body Image, growth, wonderfully made No Comments

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes.  Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.  For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to adorn themselves. 1 Peter 3:3-5

We live in a world that values outward beauty. Today’s unrealistic and demanding standard of beauty slams against our self-image daily. Even in the church, there is talk about ensuring that our bodily temples are small enough to be worthy of God.

Yet scripture is clear about where beauty comes from. We see in the verses above that our beauty does not come from our outward appearance. Not from our hair, accessories, or clothes. Notice that bodies and body size are not mentioned at all in this passage. Inner beauty is important to God. If He valued a certain size body, wouldn’t it be mentioned here, where the criteria for beauty is clearly outlined?

It’s right there in the Bible. God values the unfading beauty of your inner self. He knows that physical attractiveness fades over time, but inner beauty shines and actually becomes brighter as we are transformed by the Lord year after year.

God is cultivating a gentle and humble beauty in us as we become more and more like Jesus… the most humble and gentle One of all. God is also developing a quiet beauty in us, as we learn to trust Him more completely and have less need to complain, worry, or control.

Beloved, it’s time to let go of the world’s standard of beauty and embrace the inner beauty that God places a high priority on. If He wanted you to be in a smaller body without rolls or wrinkles, He would have said so Himself.

Give yourself permission to serve Him in the body you have today.

P.S. If you’re looking for more Christian body image encouragement. find me on Facebook or Instagram every Wednesday, when I post about living and loving in the bodies we have right now!

https://www.instagram.com/jamiedesilvia/
https://www.facebook.com/jamiedesilviaauthor

By Posted on Posted in growth, service, spiritual gifts, wonderfully made No Comments

The Lord has been working in me, teaching me about the dangers of comparison. I spent a good part of my devotional reading this summer in Psalm 73, which talks extensively about the subject. The writer talks about nearly losing his foothold (v. 2-3) and behaving like an emotional “beast” before the Lord (v. 21-22) because he got caught up in comparing himself to others. Only when he settled into God’s presence (v.16-17) did he have the right perspective of himself (v.23-28).Read more »

By Posted on Posted in identity, wonderfully made No Comments

The Lord has been speaking to me quite a bit from Psalm 139. These lessons are helping me understand my value in Him. Yesterday, I learned a truth worth repeating to myself multiple times a day:

My value comes from being created in His image.

Today, the Lord turned the lights on (so to speak) when I read verse 14 of the psalm. It states that “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” If you’re like me, in the church for more than half your life, then you’ve heard this verse a gazillion times.

Before I could rush on to the next verse, the Holy Spirit nudged me to look closely at the verb phrase and its tense.

I am fearfully and wonderfully made. The tense of “am” speaks to an unbroken continuity. The tense of “made” speaks to completion. I have been fully made in a way that inspires awe, reverence, and wonder… and it is an ever-present state.

That struck me. This scriptural truth revealed that, down deep, I believe that I was once-upon-a-time created wonderfully, but the world and I have ruined me. Wrong.

God is telling me and you today that what He has made is wonderful. We are awe-inspiring evidence of His creative power.

Exchange your self-criticism and self-loathing for awe. He made you in His own image!