The Body God Designed: How to love the body you've got while you get the body you want

By Gregory L. Jantz

Many people look in the mirror and are dissatisfied with their bodies. They see a seat too big and a chest too small, an enormous nose or beady eyes. Psalm 139 tells us how God feels about our bodies. We get the “fearful” part; it’s the “wonderful” we’re not so sure about.

The Body God Designed presents the idea that God Himself made us and has a body intended just for you. This God-intended body may have been altered by our circumstances or by our behaviors but, with His help, we can restore our bodies to the level of health and vitality He planned for us. Jantz provides specific tips for health, including:
· Healthy models for each body shape
· Differences between healthy and unhealthy fats and where to find each
· Principles readers can use for effective, long-term weight loss
· How to refrain from secret and mindless eating
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Siloam
• Release date: Dec 7, 2007
• ISBN: 9781636410463

Book preview

Notes

INTRODUCTION

GOD, WHEN YOU KNIT ME TOGETHER, YOU DROPPED A STITCH

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

—PSALM 139:13–14

Many people look in the mirror and are dissatisfied with their bodies. Seat too big; chest too small. An enormous nose and beady eyes. Thunder thighs and bird legs. Ears that stick out and hair that sticks up. Psalm 139 says it’s God’s fault! Or is it? We get the fearfully made part; it’s the wonderfully made we’re not so sure about.

As we get started on this journey, where you’re going to learn a bit about me and a lot more about yourself, allow me to confess a guilty pleasure. While waiting in the checkout line at the grocery store, I read magazine covers. And not just the mainstream ones like People or Us. I also read the tabloids. Yes, I know I shouldn’t; I know they’re not true, but, still, there’s nothing else to do while waiting there, so I read them. How else would I know that Elvis has come back as an alien or somewhere in the world a woman has delivered a thirty-pound baby who looks like Winston Churchill?

The other day, I noticed a tabloid cover that spoke about exactly what we’re going to discuss here. It was a story about how even movie stars have cellulite, complete with pictures of dimpled thighs and rears in tiny bathing suits. And just so you could really see that unsightly fat, there was a blown-up picture set in the larger one that showed only the offending back of a thigh. Glancing over at this cover, I had a kind of good-news/bad-news moment. On one hand, I felt perverse pleasure that even the tanned, muscled bodies of movie stars contend with cellulite. On the other hand, I was slightly depressed that even the tanned, muscled bodies of movie stars contend with cellulite. If their bodies aren’t perfect, with all they do to maintain them, well, mine doesn’t stand a chance. So, with a heavy heart, I paid for my Cinnabons and went home.

I don’t figure we’re too different, you and I. We care about our physical appearance. We want to look good. Most of us are convinced we look bad. Even if we’re pleased with our overall appearance, there’s always something we wish was different. Our desire to be perceived as attractive—inside and out—is fortified in so many ways: societal pressures, cultural standards, personal vanity, and personal insecurities. Somewhere along the line, we’ve developed a mental picture of not only what the perfect body should be but also what our own bodies would look like if they were perfect. Every time we look in the mirror, we experience a type of double vision. We see how we look at that moment, but we also perceive that ghost image of what we’re supposed to look like, what we would look like if a variety of unfortunate features weren’t there.

Add a Christian perspective to this dissatisfaction, and how we think about ourselves becomes complicated. After all, as Christians, we believe in Scripture. For example, in Matthew 5:48 Jesus says, Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. We translate that perfection into not only spiritual characteristics but also physical ones. As Christians, providing a testimony to the rest of the world of the benefits of living a kingdom life, we truly believe we should be exemplary—exemplary in our relationships, exemplary in our personal habits, exemplary in our spiritual discipline, and exemplary in our physical appearance. Frankly, it’s a lot of pressure. While we tend to effectively camouflage deficiencies in the other areas, it’s pretty hard to hide our physical imperfections. Oh, not that we don’t try.

In this age of medical marvels and surgical interventions, we’ve found another avenue to reach this elusive state of physical perfection, one where our inner image of our perfect self falls more in line with how we actually look. Seat too big? Have a butt tuck. Chest too small? Think breast augmentation. Prominent proboscis? A button nose is just a procedure and a couple weeks of recovery away. Poochy tummy? Liposuction. Wrinkles? Botox. Bird legs? Calf implants. Gray hair? Grecian Formula or L’Oreal. Receding hair? Plugs. Technology and advertising have an answer for everything, but is this really the way to achieve that perfect body?

What is a perfect body? Who determines what perfection looks like? Until now, we’ve allowed the superficial sciences (media in all forms) to specify who looks good and why. Not only does this practically perfect image become harder and harder to achieve (think Marilyn Monroe in the 1950s versus Kate Moss in the 1990s), but also it lasts only for a short window of time in your life. Older people in our society don’t merely look good; they look good at forty or fifty or sixty. It’s just our culture’s way of saying, Wow, you look pretty good…for an old person! We’re given a rigid standard of beauty that can only be achieved within an incredibly compressed timeline. This tyranny has to stop! People, Christians included, spend far too many hours agonizing over their bodies. It’s time to stop longing for a perfect body and start recognizing and recovering, with God’s help, the body God designed.

Rededicating the Temple

I love holidays, especially the New Year. It’s a time to rededicate, to start anew. For many Christians, it’s a time to commit to reading the Bible through during the year. Knowing and understanding Scripture is an excellent thing to do. Of course, reading the Bible through means actually reading the parts we tend to skim over at times. You know what parts I’m talking about—the genealogies (talk about mysteries—where do they come up with some of those names?), the instructions for the tabernacle in Exodus (carrying poles, basins, bases, rings, goat hair, fasteners, ephods, whew!), and all the rules and regulations in Leviticus (some of the most graphic and, frankly, weirdest parts of Scripture). Woe to those who attempt to honor their Bible-reading commitment at the end of a long day, sitting in anything resembling a comfortable chair!

As I write this, we’re just into a new year, and I’m reading, in Exodus, God’s directions for setting up the tabernacle. A couple of things popped into my mind. One, of course, is that I should always read in the morning. The other is the care and attention to detail God outlined for the tabernacle. This was essentially a big tent in the desert, a big movable tent. It struck me that God, the Creator of the universe, would take the time to detail with such specificity how He wanted the tabernacle to be built, even down to what colors to use for the stitching and embroidery work. God envisioned and planned for the tabernacle, His temple, to be built in a very specific way, one that would be functional as well as beautiful.

Why are we talking about temples? you may ask. I just want to lose fifty pounds. Well, do you know your body is a temple? First Corinthians 6:19 says, Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own. Why are we talking about this? There’s your answer: your body is a temple. God cared about the beauty and functionality of the Exodus tabernacle. He left very detailed instructions on how it should be built, moved, and maintained. He wanted it to become a focal point in the lives of His chosen people, Israel. By placing His presence inside the tabernacle, God granted a formerly enslaved, nomadic people the incredible honor and privilege of carrying around His presence and carrying out His will in the world.

So, what about your temple, your tabernacle? Do you think God is any less interested in your body? After all, your body is also a receptacle for His Spirit. By placing His presence in your body through the Holy Spirit, God is granting you, with all your faults and imperfections, the incredible honor and privilege of carrying around His presence and carrying out His will in the world. Instead of having one really big tabernacle to house His presence, God has allowed each one of us to act as a beautiful, functional, movable temple for His Spirit.

Please Pass the Guilt; I’d Like a Second Helping

Now, how’s that for a load of guilt?

Before you beat yourself up any further for that Cinnabon desecrating God’s temple, let’s stop for a moment and gather some perspective. Yes, Psalm 139 says God created your body, that He knit it together. Scripture also says God knows even the number of hairs on your head (Matthew 10:30). So, God is responsible. He’s responsible for the building blocks used to put your body together. You have a unique body given to you by God, ordained by Him even before the moment of conception. So, your small breasts and big hips are really God’s fault. You have no control over your DNA. He’s ultimately to blame for your thin legs and thinning hair. If you’re unhappy with the way this body He’s given you has turned out, God should accept responsibility and fix it, right?

It doesn’t exactly work that way. Yet, some of us become quite angry with God if the latest diet doesn’t work. We’re genuinely miffed every time we look in the mirror and see those irritating imperfections. We think, Why doesn’t God help me change? Or better yet, Why doesn’t God just change me? The answer could be that God sees nothing wrong with the way He created you. The shape of your face or the size of your breasts may not be the current rage in this world, but that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you. If you try to blame God for the foolish standard of worldly beauty and perfection, you’re barking up the wrong tree.

What needs to change is not your body but your perception of your body. Perception is not reality. Your perception may say that your eyes are too narrow and your eyebrows too bushy. The reality is both your eyes and your eyebrows are functioning perfectly well, just as they’re constructed to do. The too part comes from societal standards and has nothing to do with function and performance. Instead of praising God for the way in which He created your eyes and your eyebrows, you grumble and complain about too this and too that. Your perception leads to dissatisfaction. In that, you’re joining a long line of grumblers and complainers, also known as the people of God whom Moses led out of captivity. Mad at God? Get in line.

I’m sure there were Israelites who really didn’t like the way the tabernacle was constructed. Maybe they thought the carrying poles should be made of cedar and not acacia wood. Or maybe they thought silver rings were the way to go instead of gold or bronze. Or maybe they thought blue, purple, and scarlet yarn was so yesterday, so Egypt. Can you imagine God’s reaction if someone had argued with Him over His instructions? Lightning bolts from the sky and being burned to a crisp come to mind. The sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, come to mind. (Remember them? They were killed by God for offering a different kind of fire at the altar than He had prescribed. Simply put, they didn’t follow instructions.)

Yet, don’t we do the very same thing with God when it comes to our bodies? We’re upset about the spacing of our eyes, the angle of our teeth, the length of our noses, and the size of our chests, bellies, and behinds. If our hair is naturally curly, we pay to have it straightened. If it’s straight, we pay to have it curled. If it’s brown, we color it or highlight it blonde. Instead of fighting God’s design, we need to learn to operate within it to find all the beauty and functionality He’s placed there. Instead of fighting against our own perceptions, we need to learn to accept our unique reality.

Every time you see this heading, know that I’m going to ask you to actually do something. It stands for Body God Designed Road Trip, and each one will require you to get up, get active, and do something. This concept is very nicely outlined in Proverbs 14:23, which says something to the effect that talk without action gets you nowhere. Just reading this book is not going to produce the body God designed for you by some sort of literary osmosis. This is not the equivalent of ruby slippers you can click together three times and say, There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. To get to the home you seek, which is the body God designed for you, you’re going to have to get up, move around, and take full advantage of the BGD Road Trips. Now, each BGD Road Trip may take you no farther than another part of your house or somewhere outside. (Remember, even in The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy learned her heart’s desire was no farther than her own backyard because it was inside her all the time.)

Reading this book will help you understand a great deal about yourself and about God. But understanding is not enough; you also have to act upon that understanding. It’s when you match your understanding to your action on a regular basis that you form a habit. Frankly, all of us have formed habitual ways of thinking about ourselves and our bodies based on all the wrong criteria and warped perceptions. BGD Road Trips are little actions you can take to help break up those habits so you can form new ones.

Enough reading for a bit. I’d like you to take a moment to think about your body. Recognizing that most of you still won’t move from the spot where you are right now, nevertheless, I’m going to suggest that you get up off your rear and take this book into your bathroom or in front of a large mirror. Location-wise, you’re probably not going very far. For some of you, however, just standing in front of a mirror and really looking at your body is like entering an entirely different dimension.

Oh, and make sure to pick up a pen and some paper on your way.

Are you in front of a mirror? OK, now, really look at yourself—from all angles. Look at every part of your body from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. What things just bug you about yourself? Write a list of all the aspects of your body (front, back, and sides) that distress you. If you could have any changes to your body right now, what would they be? You might say:

■ "I wish I didn’t have such a big mouth. When I smile, I look like the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland."

■ I wish I had a full head of hair like when I was younger. Actually, better than when I was younger because even then it always looked weird.

■ I wish I could get rid of this baby fat. After all, this extra weight has been hanging around a long time—my babies are having babies.

■ I wish I could exchange the size of my waist for the size of my chest. Over the years, I’ve inverted.

If you frown, write it down! Whatever it is that causes you to frown when you look in the mirror, write it down, and then give your list this header:

Things I Really Don’t Like About My Body

For some of you, I daresay this is the longest you’ve given yourself permission to look at your entire body in the mirror. Usually, you try to whisk on past the mirror quickly, operating under the adage Ignorance is bliss. However, for some of you, this kind of critical inspection is a normal part of your routine. Every time you’re confronted with your image in any way, on any piece of glass, you use it as an opportunity to critically reflect on your reflection.

Were you able to come up with something to write down? Or did your hand cramp up after making all those tightly packed notations? However much you put down, it was pretty easy to find fault, wasn’t it? You had no problem at all coming up with all the physical quirks that irritate you about your appearance. Being confronted by them every day makes them easy to remember.

Next, let’s try something a little harder. Go back to that mirror, and write down all the things about your body or physical appearance you do like. What are your strong points? If you’re having trouble coming up with any, I’ll give you a hint: these will be things about your own body that you notice on the bodies of others. For example, if you see someone walking down the street and you say to yourself, At least my ankles aren’t as big as that woman’s, or I’m glad my gut isn’t as out of shape as that guy’s, these are the kinds of things to put on your list. They’re the parts of your body or physical appearance you’re least embarrassed about and might even, kind of begrudgingly, like. Head up this list with the words:

Things About My Body I’m Not Totally Disappointed With

(You’ll notice that this list will be shorter than your first list. After all, why waste paper? I know at this stage it’s easier to be critical than content. But take heart; that’s what this book is about—helping you become less critical and more content with the body God created for you. So, be prepared for those lists to shift as we keep going.)

If you’re really brave, you could do either of the following:

■ Look at yourself without any clothing on. To really see your body, the one God created for you, the best way is in the buff, not camouflaged by clothing. If this is difficult for you, ask for God to give you courage to look at yourself this way. God knows what you look like naked. He does not equate our nakedness with shame; that was our reaction, brought about by sin. Have courage and look at yourself as you truly are in the privacy of your own home and in the protection of God’s acceptance and love.

■ In order for you to do this next one, you’ll need another person and probably some sort of legal waiver that you won’t hold anything said against you by the other person for the next twenty years. But if you’re brave and the other person is brave (and legally indemnified), have that brave someone you love write out all the things he or she finds wrong and finds right about your body, and then compare notes. You might find it interesting how your lists contrast and compare.

Now, look over the lists—Things I Really Don’t Like About My Body and Things About My Body I’m Not Totally Disappointed With—and on each list write down what is original equipment (OE) and what has been modified by the end user (EU—that would be