Sermon: "Beautifully Made" (Psalm 139:1-18)

This is week three of my four-week series on finding wholeness in your heart, soul, body, and mind. Today, the focus is specifically on finding wholeness in your body.

Let me start by asking: does your body make you feel whole? Does your body contribute to your sense of wholeness? What is your attitude toward your body?

For the past few years, I’ve been sharing photos online via Instagram. You share pictures on Instagram, and people who see the pictures you share can tap a little heart to show that they really like it.

Most people who share photos on Instagram really like it when more people tap to show their approval. And a good percentage of the photos people share on Instagram are photos of themselves. So of course, people are going to do their best to look good in the photos they share.

It’s true for me. It’s true for everyone.

However, there are so many “perfect-looking” people on Instagram, that it’s hard to compete. Instagram presents a false ideal of what a person should look like. But Instagram is not the only place where this happens. In fact, it happens almost everywhere: in movies, on TV, in magazines, and a whole bunch of other places.

The result is that we are left feeling inadequate, because our bodies and our physiques just can’t measure up to the images we see.

But still, we try. We search for clothes that make our waists look thinner, shoes that make us look taller. We spend too much time obsessing over a crooked smile, or wrinkles around the eyes, or thinning hair.

We do what we can. We suck it in. We wear makeup. We dye our hair. We whiten our teeth. And, just maybe, we even exercise.

And we judge. We’re so judgmental. We judge other people. You see someone on the beach in a swimsuit and think, “a person with a body like that should NOT be wearing a swimsuit!”

But we don’t just judge other people. We judge ourselves. We judge ourselves even more harshly than we judge others. We take one look in the mirror, and are depressed the rest of the day, because the face in the mirror doesn't look like the pretty faces we see on Instagram, or on the magazine pages, or in the movies.

This is no way to find wholeness.

Any talk about our bodies, our might, our strength, needs to start with the recognition that your body is a precious gift from God. Some of you don’t think of your body as a precious gift. Some of you think of it as a curse. A different body, you think, would be a blessing; but not this imperfect, flawed, aging body that you do have.

But listen to what scripture says…

Scripture says your body is amazing and wonderful. The psalmist is in awe, and declares to God: “It was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.”

God knows you. Intimately. God knows all your flaws and imperfections. Your crooked smile and your warts and your wrinkles. God knows how much you weigh. God sees all the things you try to hide.

And God thinks you are wonderful. Beautiful. Worthy of love.

What we need to do is think of our bodies the same way the psalmist did: with awe and wonder.

My eyes aren’t perfect. Ever since sixth grade, I’ve had to wear glasses to see clearly. Some glasses I wore were dorkier than others. But I’m still amazed at my body’s ability to take light rays, flip them over inside the eye, convert them to signals that the brain can read, and then the brain processes those signals into an image of my surroundings that appears in my mind. It’s incredible!

Or even something as simple as moving a finger… all I have to do is think it in my brain, and that thinking causes the muscles in my finger to contract in a way that makes the finger move back and forth.

And when I exercise: When I push my muscles to their limit, what actually happens is that the muscles are injured slightly. That’s why the day after a really intense workout, you feel the pain. But in that time of healing, the body decides, “Hey, I better do more than just repair these muscles to how they were; I better repair them even better, so that they are even stronger, so that next time, they can handle the task.” And that’s how exercise makes muscles grow stronger.

Truly we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

I could go on.

Have you ever given birth, or watched that happen? My God! The things the human body is capable of!

And yet, at the same time, the wonder and beauty of a smile, or a twinkle in the eye, can, in its own way, be just as amazing.

In Isaiah 43.4, we hear God say: “You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.”

Genesis 1.26-27: “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness… So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

Your body is the image of God!

1 Corinthians 6:19: Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you. You are not your own. Therefore glorify God in your body.

Deuteronomy 6.4-5: “Hear O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”

With all your might. All your strength. In all that your body can and can’t do, God is glorified.

So what should we do with this precious gift?

What should we do with any precious gift that has been given to us?

Take care of it, of course.

On the bookshelf in my office is a Bible that was owned by my great-grandmother. (It looks a lot like this one.) On the wall there is also the Lord’s Prayer in lace that she made. These precious gifts were given to me by her daughter, which would be my grandmother. You can bet that I take care of them. I handle them gently and carefully.

I don’t take care of them so that they might become something worth admiring. They already are something worth admiring… and that is why I take care of them.

In the same way, I don’t take care of my body so that it might become something worth admiring on Instagram. My body, even with all its imperfections, is already something to admire, to be thankful for… and that is why I do my best to take care of it.

People exercise, and that’s good. But many of them do it for the wrong reasons. They exercise, they watch their diet, because they think that if they can get their body to a certain weight or size or shape, then it will be worth appreciating.

But that’s backwards! Your body is right now worth appreciating. It is worth admiring. It is a precious gift.

And that’s why we exercise and eat healthy and take care of ourselves.

I do hope you exercise and take care of yourself. But not because you need to look beautiful. You already are beautiful. And that’s why you should take care of your body.

Also: I have learned that physical wholeness is connected to the other aspects of wholeness. Being whole in your body helps you be whole in your heart, soul, and mind.

Exercise during the day helps you sleep well at night. Exercise releases endorphins in the brain which lift your mood and help combat depression. For me, exercise clears my mind and sometimes leads me into a prayer-like state, although the reason for that is probably because one of my favorite types of exercise involves running or hiking outside, in the sunshine, in some beautiful place, listening to the birds and the wind… and the silence. I don’t like gyms or treadmills. If I had to run on a treadmill in a gym with TVs on the wall showing, I don’t know, talk shows of people gabbing away, interrupted by annoying ads – that would not work for me! It would nourish my body, but not my soul. That would be something to endure, that’s for sure!

But hiking up a beautiful mountain, breathing in that wonderful mountain air, smelling the pine trees as I huff and puff away, and then being rewarded by the most amazing view at the top – that is an experience that restores both my body and my soul.

You gotta find what works for you!

I don’t drink soda. I haven’t had more than a couple of sips in the past three years. It’s not worth it. And I pick and choose which desserts and sweets I eat. I pass on the stuff that is good, but I do say yes to the stuff that is really good.

Someday, God willing, I’ll live long enough that old age will keep me from climbing to the top of mountain peaks. Already, I think about some of the hardest hikes I’ve done, like reaching the summit of Mount Whitney – elevation 14, 500 feet – and I think, “I don’t need to do that again.” But I’ll keep doing what I can, whatever that is, for as long as I can, in a way that brings wholeness to my body as well as to my heart, soul, and mind.

Because I really do want to love God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, and with all my strength. And to do that, I need to take care of my heart, take care of my soul, take care of my mind, and take care of my body.

And I encourage you to do all you can to love and honor God with all your heart, soul, mind, and body. Doing so not only glorifies God, but also leads you on the path to wholeness.