Today we’re sharing an excerpt from Lifeway Women’s new Bible study Body & Soul by Lisa Whittle. Learn more about this impactful new Bible study!
If I were to ask you right now, Do you love yourself?, what would you say? What about if I asked you, Do you love your body? Would that be the same or a different answer?
This is a very telling experiment. Because if the two answers differ, it exposes how we still view our bodies and souls as two unconnected things.
I don’t ask these questions in judgment, but rather, I want us to understand how important loving our whole selves really is, how loving ourselves includes loving our bodies, and how Christ came and sacrificially gave His body for our abundant lives all because of love.
To love our bodies is not about liking the way we look. That’s a small (and surface) goal, even though it may seem like a mountain to climb at times. It’s about something bigger—love that is naturally expressed in a positive and healthy way. This is not conjured up, programmatic love (i.e., “three steps to love yourself!”) that is a good idea so we do it, but rather it is an outflow of simply what is true. We are body and soul, and love may manifest in our actions, but it is born of the soul. So, this requires depth that goes far beyond how does my body look, function on the outside, or even feel right now? Because the truth is, sometimes our bodies don’t feel good. And if loving our bodies is contingent upon how we feel in them or about them, a lot of us are not going to love them for very long.
Perhaps this is why we’ve only loved our bodies conditionally in the past and that has been short-lived. We’ve loved her on the condition that she was thin or healthy or able or complimented.
This is not truly loving our bodies and souls. This is conditional approval, performance, and peer-based acceptance, and it is not only not what God created our bodies for, but it’s also not truly loving ourselves. So, if you’ve wondered why thus far you haven’t been able to get true freedom with your body, it may well be because this is the issue you’ve never uncovered.
And let’s go one more step further: to be really, truly loving with ourselves means being realistic about our own sin and holding ourselves accountable. As it relates to our bodies, this will mean feeding and fueling our bodies well, doing what is necessary (as far as it depends on us) to keep them healthy and strong to serve and love others. This, with a love mindset that comes from the soul, will be rightly driven. This is when food and movement and taking care of ourselves doesn’t become a yoke.
Loving ourselves and our bodies well (which then results in living well in them) means we treat them with dignity and respect.
This is not about feeling guilt. When we operate in a right body theology, guilt isn’t a part of that body-love life.
And I see you, work in progress. Part of God loving us is that work in progress part. On top of our own self-shaming, things have been said to us about our bodies we will likely never forget. Our bodies haven’t been what we have hoped and prayed. Sometimes we feel guilty for admitting our disappointment in them. We may feel like strangers inside of them, and chronically they may cause us pain.
The freedom Christ offers frees us in every way of our sin and brokenness, including our broken images of our bodies. Remember that His death ultimately covered your struggles in love. This means you can, in fact, daily overcome.
Every time we’ve felt the yoke of body trauma or struggle, He empathizes with us. We are part of Him. He lives within us. Sisters, do you get it? We are not alone in our body journeys. We are one with Christ.
Want to learn more about the Body & Soul Bible study? Watch the short video below or view a free sample and teaching video clips at lifeway.com/bodyandsoul.
And here are some fun wallpapers for your desktop and phone! Click the text below to download the free wallpapers.
