“I wish I looked like…”
For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. James 3:16
In day two of this national eating disorder awareness week, we turn our attention to appearance. Indeed, wishing, coveting and image are right there in our lives. The outside world displays some aspirational form of aesthetically pleasing and powerful messages; beauty,
especially within the definition of a rigid, thin beauty, becomes its dominant depiction.
This hierarchy of human value, intensified with its dangled promises of untold perfection, happiness and a problem-free existence, can often find us is a position to covet, to envy and to further exemplify less than positive character attributes in the process.
A sound heart is the life of the flesh:
but envy the rottenness of the bones. Proverbs 14:30
And it stems from a place of fear: we fear we are inadequate as is. Scripture, however, negates that concept…
I will praise You,
for I am fearfully and wonderfully made… Psalm 139:14
O my dove…let me see your form…for your form is lovely. Song of Solomon 2:14
Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee. Song of Solomon 4:7
Each one of us is unique, valuable and yes, aesthetically pleasing in the eyes of our Creator.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. John 1:3
We must never underestimate that reality.
Therefore, we need to ask for His viewpoint to correctly see and value ourselves. We have prayed for, wished for and coveted to be some image, often one which is both harmful and unattainable, while failing to celebrate ourselves for who we are already.
Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. James 4:2-3
We need a shift in our thinking, a shift within our hearts.
Let’s focus on shifting that right now, wherever we find ourselves.
Little by little, bit by bit, this miracle can happen!
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