Do you ever feel like badmouthing your body? Do not agree with the devil, who wants to put your body down. Instead, give God your body to use as a weapon against the forces of darkness!
There are days when I really feel like badmouthing my body!
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and I bet you feel the same. Yesterday my morning got off to a really rough start. When my husband sat me up in my wheelchair, I felt shooting pains. My skin got clammy, my blood pressure spiked, my forehead started sweating. It’s a condition called “autonomic dysreflexia,” pretty common for people who, like me, are spinal cord injured. It is the most troublesome, uncomfortable, frustrating condition because you never know what’s causing it. It could be you sprained something or pinched or injured something. It could be something external or even internal. You never know. And it’s what made yesterday morning so irksome! When we could not find out the cause of all the sweating and discomfort, I shook my head and growled, “This body is a pain… I hate it!” But as soon as those words slipped my mouth, I regretted it.
I knew it was wrong to say that, to say that I hated my body, no matter how much of a fit it gives me! It’s wrong because God’s Word says otherwise. You know the verse; you’ve said it so many times. It’s Psalm 139:14, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Look, friend, I am and you are fearfully, respectfully, miraculously, and wonderfully made. God made no mistakes when he designed my body. But there is another reason I shouldn’t badmouth my body.
And that is this: the enemy has a deep hatred of it. The other morning when I growled and said I hated my body, all I was doing was agreeing with Satan. He thinks it’s great when I put down my body. And he would like to get you to do the same. Why? Because your body, even underneath wrinkles or fat, and despite the ravages of illness or old age, your body is made in the image of God. Your heart, your mind, your hands, your feet, all of it, stamped with the imprint of the Creator. Little wonder that the devil wants you to be ashamed of the way you look or how well you can see or not see, or hear, or whether or not you can walk or stoop or bend! Even though the Fall has weakened your human condition, still, nevertheless, the body you have is a gift from God. And we know that our adversary hates all of God’s good gifts!
So, that morning I had to, once again, plug my ears against the lies of the Tempter and remember that I am “fearfully and wonderfully made.” I rehearsed the old, familiar truth that God has a plan for this flesh and blood of mine. Even if it is paralyzed and getting older. The Lord wants us to celebrate our bodies because it is through them that his will for our life is worked out. That’s why the devil considers my body a threat—he understands that when I yield to my God all of my flesh and bone, albeit paralyzed, my feet and hands are powerful weapons against his forces of darkness.
So the next time you are tempted to say that you can’t stand your body because of its aches and pains, its eyesight, or the way it looks in the mirror; the next time you try to put down your body, do not agree with the devil. He is, after all, more fallen than you are. He is a deceiver. And he’s doomed for destruction. And until then, he has one goal in mind: your spiritual defeat, emotional collapse, and physical frustration. So, if he tries to get you to agree with him today, please don’t do it. That’s your good word today from joniradio.org. God bless you, and thanks for listening!
© Joni and Friends