Speaker: Darlene Sala | Series: Encouraging Words | Most of us are not completely happy with how our bodies look. We’d like to shed a few pounds—without any effort, of course.  We wish we had more muscles or curves. Or maybe it’s more hair you would like. But what you have is what you’ve got, right?

Now, most of us remember that the Bible says in the beginning God formed Adam “from the dust of the ground” (Genesis 2:7). But He formed you too.  How about these verses from the Bible:

“Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you?” (Deuteronomy 32:6). The Psalmist said, “Your hands made me and formed me” (Psalm 119:73).  Isaiah speaks of “Your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb” (Isaiah 44:24).

So, if God created you, made you, and formed you, to use the Bible’s terms, what does that tell you about your body? It’s exactly what God intended you for you to accomplish His purpose. Oh, yes, we’re responsible to keep in shape. We can’t blame God when we don’t take care of ourselves. But your body is a tool God has given you to serve Him.

And what if you are disabled? Does God still have a purpose for you? Absolutely. When she was only a teen, Annie Johnson Flint developed crippling arthritis that worsened until in her later years a pencil had to be wedged between her fingers in order for her to write.  Yet in her lifetime she authored more than seven volumes of poetry that has not a trace of self-pity or railing against God’s will. Listen to what she wrote,

God hath not promised skies always blue,
Flower strewn pathways all our lives through;
But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labor, light for the way.

Do as Paul urged, and offer your body to the Lord today as a living sacrifice, “holy and pleasing to God” (Romans 12:1). You may be amazed with what He does with it.