I am not my body – My body is a precious transportation, communication and cognitive vehicle

Abundantlife7

My last blog generated a quite emotional response and heated discussions among members. It became apparent how much – especially women – suffer related to their bodies.

So, here an attempt to put things into perspective. And then I want to hear your thoughts. Not just to get feedback, but also to learn and refine my own thinking.
Here, is what I propose:

I am not my body – My body is a precious transportation, communication and cognitive vehicle. It means God has given me a body with arms, legs, eyes, ears, mouth, brain to engage with the three-dimensional world that we live in.
My body gets me places. Through my body senses of hearing, seeing, touching, smelling and tasting, I am able to engage with environment and with other people. My brain allows me to think, analyze, develop and formulate content that I can share with the environment.

My body is precious. But I am not my body.I am a living soul. A soul that will live forever, while my body is decaying and will fall apart throughout the next years. Do you agree?

If so, then this gives us a different perspective: I am not defined by my body. My value is defined by the worth of my soul, not by the worth of my body. And my soul is defined by what was paid for it: The very life of Jesus Christ! That means my soul – I - has highest value in the universe!

Many people define their value much by how they look, how “smart” they are, how “successful” they can be, but this is a wrong perspective. Because I am not my body.

Many people in this forum will agree that we should not judge the value of a person by his/ her car. Same with the body - while certain body language, communication and behavior may reflect character, it does not represent the soul. The soul is behind – and often walled – within the body.

So, if the soul is the true “I”, we can gain a more sober perspective:
- My value is not/ cannot be judged/ determined how I look or my ability to analyze and process data & information
- My value is not determined how easily I move through the three-dimensional space in the world.
- My value is unspeakably high – Because Jesus was paying the highest price in the universe possible: His very life as God!

What does this mean:
- I can relax toward what other people say about my body. I am not defined by it. My body is like my car. Some people may not like my car. So, what? That does not affect me. That is their problem. Not mine. A car gets me from A to B. My body moves me through three dimension space and helps me engage with its environment.
- I need to take care of my body. Because without my body, I would have no possibly to engage with my environment (except of prayer). So, I need to maintain good health and fitness! I need to spend due time, money and effort to maintain my body.
- Most would clean & wash their cars. They would fix the car, if it makes a lot of noise or unduly pollutes a lot. Equally, we need to care for our body enough not to negatively impact other people. Also, if we are given a nice car, we would let it shine, not just be covered under layers of dust and dirt.

Most people – especially women – may have a distorted understanding of their bodies. Some only define themselves by their bodies, spend most time and focus on looking pretty. Others – often Christians – totally neglect their bodies. Some even despise their bodies, because they think that their bodies have no spiritual value or even assume that the sinful nature resides in the body – thus even fight their own bodies.

Such thinking, on both sides of the spectrum is wrong. I am not my body, but my body is precious, because I need my body to engage with the people in the world.

The Bible that God created women to be help mates for men. While man and women are fully equally valuable. Man and woman have different functions into God plans. Both are to complement each other. God has chosen women to be the crowns of their husbands. Taking care of their bodies and letting the beauty shine honors and brings joy the man. While inner beauty is an undeniable and very important value, living in a three-dimensional world, requires the body to express it. Thus, women – and men – are well advised to make full use of all positive attributes of their bodies.

I am not my body. I am an eternally living soul. My value is not determined by my body, but what Jesus paid with HIS life. At the same time, I need to be a good steward and caretaker of my body.

Other people, may miss an arm or leg, may be slowed in the cognitive capabilities. Using my body to the fullest honors, its maker, my LORD and GOD.

Do you agree?