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Our worth is more than skin deep

Our worth is more than skin deep

Ugh. Looking in the mirror I shook my head with disdain and sighed. I could not make the scale or my size budge no matter how well I tracked what I ate, ate healthily, and exercised. “Well, when you get to a certain age, this is what happens…” Great, so comforting, right? But the thing is, I had begun to let this new reality affect my worth. Do you know your worth, or do you let others define that for you? Without realizing it, we can let shame steal our worth as we base our worth on other people’s opinion, dependent upon our performance, man’s acceptance, body image, or other endless faulty comparisons. But our worth is more than skin deep.

Our Worth is More Than Skin Deep

As hard as this is to admit, even though I have tackled shame in all of life, I realized recently that I had not dealt with shame concerning my body image. Well meaning people tell me I should lose weight (while they themselves are over weight). They don’t know the health battles I have faced and the toll that menopause has wrought on my frame. They don’t know that I am accountable and eat super clean. In short, I have felt judged by my appearance—assumptions made based on what others think I should look like, which evidently is supposed to be a size 3, perhaps?

I remember in high school doing modeling for a clothing store I worked at. I was a size 3 then. And you know what? A woman who worked there told me I had big hips and should lose weight. She was over 200 pounds herself and I was 105. Maybe we will never reach the supposed perfect look or size?

Scripture says that “The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). This superficial world likes to judge the surface and I think it is hard for us to not use the same standards because we are part of the culture.

Our Worth is More Than External—its Eternal

But what I love about finding our worth in Christ alone is that our worth does not change with popular opinion or as we age and change on the outside. Our worth is eternal, based on what Christ has done on our behalf. All the pressure we can feel to be enough in appearance is a facade that might give a temporary sense of worth, but it does not last like our identity in Christ.

Our Worth is Defined by God

There is no person and no perspective on our worth that fits or could compare with how God has prized each one of us. God was willing to lay down the life of His one beloved Son to save you and me. You and I are precious in His sight.

“Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life.” —Isaiah 43:4.

Friend, I still can struggle to find my worth in Christ alone. But struggle is not necessarily a bad word. Don’t accept anyone’s view of you as reality. Only your Maker knows your intrinsic worth and His love for you does not change with your size or age. He delights in you! Shame Off You!

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