The Idol of the Body
4-minute read
The concept of an idol is simple: it is misplaced affection, value, and honor. Misplaced affection can happen with food, home decor, wardrobe, athletic abilities, or the number of commas in our bank account. But what happens when our idol is actually the very body that houses our heart, soul, and mind? That would mean we have nowhere to go apart from our idol. We cannot step outside of it, take a break from it, or escape its influence. This is dangerous because we can't separate ourselves from the very thing we are obsessed with perfecting.
Jesus' incarnation, death, and resurrection make short work of communicating how God values our bodies.
Our bodies were created in millions of shapes, colors, and forms to be useful and purposeful, but our earthly bodies, in their present form, are not eternal.
In the economy of heaven, everyone has a purpose in showcasing God's glory. After His resurrection, Jesus showed His hands as evidence of the wounds He carried in His resurrected body. He invited His disciples, including Thomas, to touch His hands and pierced side. There was no shame in asking questions or wanting to understand how the fragility of humanity and the fullness of heaven could rest in one resurrected body (John 20:24–31).
Jesus told His followers not to worry about what they would eat or drink (Matthew 6:25–34)—two of the most basic requirements for life on this planet. He wasn't teaching them to disregard their physical needs, but rather not to allow those needs to become the center of their lives. He was teaching them to trust the Father and seek His kingdom above all else.
Jesus had a beautiful way of acknowledging our humanness without letting His listeners forget why and how they were created. In God's great grace, there is no singular picture of attractiveness, no one hairstyle, skin color, or body shape that God values above another. Our worth is not determined by how closely we measure up to any cultural standard of beauty or physical strength. The world would prefer that we choose beauty over function and style over substance because our world is limited to what it can see. We must be wary that a culture preaching the Gospel of Self can deceive us into valuing one part of our identity more than the many facets of our lives and personalities that make us who we are holistically. When we give the body more attention, affection, and authority than it deserves, we risk allowing one part of our identity to eclipse the whole of who God created us to be. The world is not cheering for us to win, but God sees purpose in our understanding of our place in time and space.
It is truly a gift of God that allows us to be both beautiful and purposeful. Worship songs that are not melodic or are sung off-key can still speak truth and grace, but how lovely it is to our ears when they hit those beautiful notes! Beauty is not the prerequisite for purpose, nor is physical ability the measure of our usefulness to God. He does not leave us without purpose, no matter what our bodies look like on the outside.
The Psalmist writes in Psalm 147:10–11:
“His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior; the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.”
This passage does not suggest that God disregards our physical bodies or that strength and beauty are inherently bad. Rather, it reminds us that human strength does not capture God's delight. Our Lord does not measure our worth by our exterior bodies or appearances. Throughout Scripture, He consistently directs our attention beyond what our human eyes can see and toward what He values: hearts that fear Him and hope in His unfailing love. In a world that loves to focus on what it can see, the Lord delights in those who put their hope in His unfailing love!
