I stood in front of the mirror, the skirt my mom bought me flaring over my knees making me smile–until it didn’t. The longer I stood in front of the mirror, the more aware of my “flaws” I became. My thighs didn’t have a big enough gap, my stomach wasn’t “pancake” flat, and very quickly, the thing that had made me feel confident and pretty a few moments before, had me feeling disgusted and discontent with my body. 

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like most females (and a majority of the world) are obsessed with how much they weigh. 

I know because I am one of them. 

Facing ourselves in the mirror and feeling joy or at least minimal satisfaction is always a challenge, and very rarely can a woman say with confidence that she loves what she sees. 

For myself, even when I am underweight and struggle with restrictive eating behaviors, I don’t like what I see in the mirror very often. 

Satan wants us to believe his lies. 

The way Satan likes to torment us is by getting in our ear and whispering lie after lie about how we’re not thin enough, that our legs are too muscular, that our skin isn’t clear enough, and that we are dreadfully ugly even when we are perfectly healthy just the way we are. 

He is the father of lies (John 8:44 ESV) and he wants us to believe anything that will draw us away from the Father. One lie that he loves to use is the false belief that we are only worth the number on our clothes. 

The smaller it is, the more “worth” we hold. 

Society echoes the same thing. Countless ads for skinny drinks, fad diets, gym memberships, and appetite suppressing lollipops push the idea that thin is desirable and if you are anything other than that, well…you must not be worthy.

Our culture is obsessed with size and Satan loves it. Why? Because he is pulling our attention away from Jesus and that makes him really really happy. 

More than size. 

Our God is not of this world and He is not enslaved to the world’s standard of beauty. He chooses to call us beloved because of Christ (Romans 9:25). There is no virtue in wearing the smallest size, running every morning, over-eating, bingeing, drinking countless cups of water, eating small meals–or even–not eating at all. 

If you struggle with any destructive behavior or thought patterns around your body, whether they are what I had or something else, they do not define you. 

When we choose to love ourselves and celebrate the things about us that the world tries to sell as flaws, we chose to rejoice in the Creator who made us in His image. We chose to worship the One who knit us together in our mother’s womb. We chose to give “give thanks in all circumstances” instead of cursing and hating the body that He worked so hard to make. 

Bodies decay, society shifts, popularity fades, diets come and go, but God is forever “I am.” (Malachi 3:6). Nothing in the Bible tells us that thin is good, instead it tells us that God cares more about our character than our “outward appearance”. 

“Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised’(Proverbs 31:30).

The next time Satan whispers lies in the mirror, turn away and open the Bible. Set the eyes of your heart on a greater, more satisfying beauty found only in Christ.