The Bible tells us to eat, drink, celebrate, sing, dance, shout, and make music – all things we do with our bodies. And these things can actually become a way of remembering how good God is. Our physical lives are not separate from our spiritual lives. After all, it’s God’s Spirit who makes our bodies come to life. But if we’re not careful, our priorities can shift from God to ourselves and what we look like. We can become obsessed with our appearance, our weight, our health and the latest fashions. The Bible never tells us that wanting to care for our bodies is wrong. In fact, it says: ‘Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.’ And we should respect, care for and honour that temple. God also made us with a love of beauty, but the Bible says: ‘Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewellery or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight’ (1 Peter 3:3-4 NIVUK). So our character is more important than how we look. While society is often focused on appearance, God’s focused on how we are on the inside. The Bible says: ‘God does not see the same way people see. People look at the outside of a person, but the Lord looks at the heart’ (1 Samuel 16:7 NCV). Our character is the thing that will last. ‘Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting’ (Proverbs 31:30 NIV). So we need to think about our priorities. What’s the focus of our minds? The desire to be physically attractive? Or the desire to become more like Christ?
