The world tries to tell us what success and wealth and popularity and beauty and all those things should look like, and by definition therefore, who we should aspire to be. But what if life’s not about those outward measures of success at all? BODY BEAUTIFUL Let me start today by letting you in on a little secret, so that you understand where I’m coming from on this whole body-image thing. For most of my adult-life until a few years ago, I hated seeing myself. I hated looking at my face in the mirror, and I hated even more seeing a photo of myself. In fact, as much as possible, I avoided photos. Why? Because I was grossly overweight, and that was something that I was deeply ashamed of. I struggled with my weight all my life, and as someone who pretty much always succeeds at things I turn my hand to, I hated (I mean, I absolutely hated) the fact that I couldn’t succeed at looking good. It’s a terrible thing, I can tell you, not to want to look at yourself in the mirror. You avoid it studiously, and it eats away at your self-esteem. People would never have guessed it of the apparently bold and confident Berni Dymet, but it was the scourge of my life. Of course, I finally found out what was causing me to be so grossly overweight, and that’s something that I share in a free E-booklet called ‘How I Lost 25 kgs.’ You can download it from the Resources section of our website, ChristianityWorks.com if you’re interested. Thousands already have. But do you see my point? When I come to talk about body image, I’m speaking as someone who has struggled with the body-image thing for most of his life, so this is not a theory lesson; this is someone whose life has been transformed by Christ speaking here. Now before we get rocking and rolling to talk about the emotional side of body image, let me say this: What I am not saying is that we shouldn’t worry about our health and our weight. The thing that’s causing gross obesity on a global pandemic scale is our addiction to sugar and processed foods. Get rid of those two things out of your diet, get back to what your grandparents and their parents were eating (yes, including bacon, eggs and all those things), and the weight just comes off. Absolutely, get back to natural whole foods, but weight isn’t the only thing that ruins our sense of body image. Some people just think they look ugly, ok? Some of us don’t fit the stereotypical images of beauty that we see in the glossy magazines and on television. In fact, the reality is that most of us don’t, right? But that doesn’t stop many people from feeling visually inadequate. Some people have birthmarks or scars, or perhaps you’re shorter than you’d like to be, or taller than you want to be, or you wish your hair was a different colour or those wrinkles would just go away. There’s any number of things that we fret about when it comes to body image, and for many people, it simply ruins their lives. Am I right? So, where do we go with this? If you’re someone whose body image is ruining their life, do you want to be set free from that (I mean, completely, totally and utterly set free from that)? Then stick with me because that’s what we’re going to be doing right now: Not because I happen to have anything profound to say, but because God does, and first up, this is what He has to say about body-image. Are you ready? This comes from a time when the prophet Samuel was sent by God to find a new king to replace King Saul of Israel, who’d gone off the rails. Have a listen (1 Samuel 16:1-13): The LORD said to Samuel, ‘How long are you going to grieve Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel, so fill your horn with oil and set out. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for Myself a king among his sons.’  So, Samuel did what the LORD commanded and he came to Bethlehem, and sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the LORD’s anointed is now before me.’ But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.’ Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. He said, ‘Neither has the LORD chosen this one.’  Then Jesse made Shammah pass by, and he said, ‘Neither has the LORD chosen this one.’ Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, ‘The LORD has not chosen any of these.’ Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are all your sons here?’ And he said, ‘There remains yet the youngest son, but he is out keeping the sheep.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and bring him, for we will not sit down until he comes.’ He sent and brought him. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome, and the LORD said, ‘Rise and anoint him, for this is the one.’ Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah. Now that’s a profound story of how God chose David, who turned out to be the greatest king that Israel ever had, and notice that David was the runt of the litter. He was the little one, considered so unlikely that his father didn’t even put him before the prophet. Samuel thought, ‘Oh, number one son. You know – the tall, the good-looking one … That’s the one that’s going to be king’, but God said to the prophet, ‘Do not look upon his outward appearance or on the height of his stature because I have rejected him. For the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.’ Listen to me. God doesn’t give two hoots about your physical stature. That’s the last thing He’s interested in! What He’s interested in is who you are – your heart, and if that’s the most precious thing in God’s sight, isn’t it time to ditch this whole body-image inadequacy thing that you’ve been going on about? Well? What you look like is, by and large, God’s sovereign choice. Other than perhaps your weight and a few cosmetic things, the rest is completely out of your control; what matters is who you are – your sense of humour; your heart; your passions; the gifts God’s given you. If that matters most to God, shouldn’t that be what matters most to you? DRESS TO IMPRESS I haven’t had that many job-interviews in my life. In fact, I’ve only really had two of them, but the first one is the one that I remember most. It was a daylong selection board they called it, in front of some generals and colonels who were selecting candidates to train as officers in the Australian army. There were about twenty of us young men there vying for contention, and about six or seven of these senior officers. They spent the whole day putting us through the hoops. There were group-sessions where we were asked questions. We each had to get up and give an impromptu speech. There was an obstacle course that we had to traverse, with problems to solve along the way … All sorts of different things. It was an exhausting day, I can tell you, and the whole time, you were really trying to impress these guys because you wanted to be selected to train as an officer. The pressure was intense. Out of the twenty of us, just three or four made it through. I happened to be one of them, and then for the next four...

Released on 29 May 2022