On the internet, I saw where someone asked a fitness question: “How do I get a well-defined body? I’ve been working hard at the gym for years, but my body doesn’t match the guys I see in the fitness magazines. What am I doing wrong?”
Having a well-defined body means that you have muscle, and that you have a low enough body fat percentage so that the muscle can be seen. Weight training will help you get the muscle; proper diet will help you get rid of body fat.
But that’s only part of the answer. The other part of the answer is that you will never have a body that is as well-defined as those you see in the fitness magazines. That’s because a model in a fitness magazine has several things you don’t:
First, there is a good chance that he uses steroids to achieve that muscle mass.
Second, the photographer uses professional lighting which is adjusted to make muscle more noticeable, in a way that doesn’t happen in real life.
Third, fitness models often fast before a photo shoot. They don’t eat. They don’t drink. Not even water. They’re basically starving and dehydrated at the time the photo is taken.
And then there is photoshop.
Even the fitness model, in real life, doesn’t have that well-defined of a body.
Physical exercise is important. Eating a good, healthy diet is important. Being healthy is important.
But it’s also important to stop judging yourself by unrealistic standards.
This leads to today’s spiritual boot camp lesson: Be careful how you define what it means to be “well-defined.”
Often, people who are just starting on a physical fitness program say they are doing so because they are fat. They say: “I’m fat. I need to exercise.”
But when you say “I’m fat,” you are defining yourself. And it’s a distorted definition.
Muscle definition does not define who you are as a person. The amount of fat you have does not define who you are as a person.
So don’t say “I’m fat.” You can say, “I have fat.” But don’t let that fat define you. Don’t say, “I am fat.”
Because you are so much more than that.
How we define ourselves is important. How we define what it means to be well-defined is important.
When the disciples saw the man born blind, they thought they knew how to define him.
They said to Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned so that he was born blind - this man, or his parents?”
They had been trained by society to define all people born blind as sinners, or as the children of sinners. Why else would God have allowed them to be born without sight?
Jesus immediately challenged their definition of the blind man. He answered their question by saying, “Neither.” Neither this man’s sin, nor the sins of his parents, caused him to be born blind.
Jesus was always challenging our definitions. Society defines people. The media define people. The government defines people.
Some are defined as sinners. Some are defined as dangerous. Some are defined as abominations. Some are defined as lost.
Read the Sermon on the Mount and count how many times Jesus challenged the way society defines people. “Blessed are the poor.” That is not how society defines people.
Jesus challenged the definition of who is first and who is last. He turned those definitions upside down, by saying that the first will be last and the last will be first.
Jesus challenged the definition of the Sabbath. He challenged the definition of who is one’s neighbor. He challenged the definition of what it means to be rich.
And, Jesus challenged the definition of who is, and who is not, a sinner.
At the risk of complicating things, I will point out that we are all, of course, sinners. But the way society defines people, there are sinners, and then there are sinners. We’re all sinners; but only the people we don’t like are sinners. So when asked “who sinned, this man or his parents,” Jesus replied, “Neither.”
Then Jesus healed the man. That was proof that there was no sin. “See? He can see! No sin here. Move along….”
But some people find it very hard to move along. People had defined him as a sinner for so long, it was hard to see him as anything else.
“Isn’t this the blind man who we used to see sitting and begging?”
They argued about it. Some said yes. Some said no. Some weren’t sure. Some didn’t know how to define this man who was blind but now could see.
The man said, “It is me!”
But that wasn’t enough to convince everyone.
They grabbed him and took him to the Pharisees. The Pharisees knew how to define people. They knew how to define who was a sinner and who was not. The Pharisees would straighten this out.
But the Pharisees didn’t understand any better than anyone else.
They asked: “How is it that you can see?”
“Jesus did it. He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and then I could see.”
The Pharisees didn’t like this. Too many things were being redefined. This man, who they had defined as a sinner; he shouldn’t be able to see! And Jesus, who healed this man - he did it on the Sabbath. That’s not what the Sabbath is for! Jesus must be against God if he healed on the Sabbath. Jesus must be against God if he allowed a sinner to see.
Something’s not right. It all goes against their definitions.
They called for the man’s parents. This is a long story; we didn’t hear it all. They called for his parents, and questioned them.
“Is this your son? Was he really born blind? If so, how is it that he can see?”
The parents said: “Yes, he is our son. Yes, he was born blind. But we don’t know how it is that he can see. Did you ask him? He is of age, he can answer for himself.”
The parents knew that this man Jesus, who challenged so many definitions, was a dangerous person to be associated with, so they avoided answering the question.
The Pharisees went back to the man born blind. “We know you’re a sinner. We know this man Jesus is a sinner. The fact that he healed your eyesight - the eyesight of a sinner - is further proof of this. Don’t you agree?”
The man said: “All I know is that I once was blind, but now I see.”
The Pharisees then said: “But how did this happen? What did he do to you?”
And the man said: “I already told you! Do you want to hear it again? Do you want to be his disciples, too?”
Well, that did it. The Pharisees got mad. “YOU are the disciple of that sinner. WE are disciples of Moses. WE know how to define what is right and what is wrong. God doesn’t listen to sinners, and God doesn’t allow the healing of a man who was born blind!”
The man said: “I KNOW God doesn’t listen to sinners. Yet God listened to this man, and allowed him to heal my eyes.”
And then the Pharisees said: “You’re a sinner. We’re not listening to anything else you have to say.”
And it became apparent that it’s the Pharisees who were blind; blind to the truth.
And that’s how it is with people who refuse to let go of their own definitions and embrace God’s definitions. The way God defines things is often different than the way people define things.
The way God defines people is always full of compassion, mercy, grace, and love.
And God is always willing to give you a new definition. We’ve all heard how other people have defined us. We’ve heard how society defines us. We’ve internalized those definitions so that we use them to define ourselves.
But most of those definitions are not very flattering. People tend to be harsh, critical, judgmental.
What opinions and ideas of others do you allow to define who you are?
A friend of mine once told me that, for her, it’s not a democracy. Not everyone’s vote counts.
She said that when it came to how she felt about herself, how she defined herself, and whose opinion matters, she got to decide whose vote counts.
And the people who always defined her negatively, in ways that were unhelpful and unloving - their votes didn’t count.
When you hear how everybody else tries to define you, do you let their votes count? Do you base your definition on their definitions?
Try paying less attention to how critics define you, and more attention to how God defines you. God created you, you know. God created you in God’s own image. God knows all about you.
The psalmist says to God:
“Lord, you have examined me. You know me. You know when I sit down and when I stand up. Even from far away, you comprehend my plans. You study my traveling and resting. You are thoroughly familiar with all my ways [Psalm 139].”
No one knows you as well as God does.
And here’s how God defines you:
God says, “I created you and formed you… You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you [Isaiah 43].”
When Jesus defined people, he did it by looking at them through God’s eyes.
Followers of Jesus do the same.
We define people by looking at them through God’s eyes.
We define ourselves by seeing ourselves through God’s eyes.
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