Body Lease Agreement: https://shorturl.at/klnv9
Just how much do you hate your body? How much do you dislike your own skin and the reflection you see? How long are you going to punish yourself, sitting your own self in time out, not allowed to fully enjoy this life you have been given? You don’t get to climb that mountain! You don’t get to swim in those waters! You don’t get to go there and do that. Why? Because you don’t like the way you would look doing it and you’re overwhelmed with the fear of what others might think.
So you don’t do all you could be doing. So, you sit it out. So, opportunities pass you by. So, you live a little less than you could. So, you like yourself a little less every day.
What if this summer could be different? What if we changed the script in our head and the choices we make, and this time we do it out of love?
Yes, try love this time.
Girls, it is absolutely ridiculous how we try to hate ourselves into change. You are this beautiful, magnificent work of art which God himself called a masterpiece, yet you’re dang mean to that masterpiece. Your body is not some after thought in the creation of you that doesn’t matter. YOU MATTER. Your body matters. What your body can do matters. How your body feels matters. God cares about it.
You know why God cares so much about that body of yours? First … because it’s a vessel for his power.
2 Corinthians 4:7 “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure.[ This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.”
You are a fragile jar holding great treasure. And honey, when you hold the great treasure of God’s Spirit, you, the vessel, are of tremendous value. But remember, you are fragile. All 37 trillion cells of you are intricately woven together in a divine design, so totally and completely breakable. Your body can be broken, and the truth is, sadly, we’ve been dropping the fragile jar.
How? We’ve failed to love the vessel. We’ve failed to care for the vessel. We’ve hated the vessel, punished the vessel, neglected the vessel, even hidden the vessel. This fragile vessel containing the great treasure of God’s power is YOUR BODY. So yes, it does matter what you put in it. Yes, it does matter what you do with it. Yes, it does matter how you talk about it.
The truth is, for the vast majority of us, our vessel deserves a whole lot better than we’ve been giving it. We’ve been living like it’s totally disposable, putting junk in it. We’ve been living like it’s some sort of burden, when really, a working and functioning body is often the blessing we overlook.
Over the weekend I was in the bay with my dog swimming. This particular bay is filled with coral, which can be very sharp. A piece of that sharp coral created a tiny cut in the side of my foot. After feeling the sudden pain, I immediately looked to ensure I wasn’t bleeding out, calling the sharks in for dinner, and the cut wasn’t even visible. I continued on throughout my day, forgetting about my encounter with the coral, until later that evening, my foot was suddenly so sore I couldn’t touch it. That tiny cut had gotten infected, now causing tremendous pain.
Isn’t it crazy how something so little can bring such pain? Trying to apply a bit of ointment and flinching with every touch, my husband says, “Pain is good.” Boy … what kind of weird-o are you? What do you mean pain is good? I don’t enjoy this at all. Then he says something that makes so much sense. He says, “Pain is good in your body. It tells you where something is wrong and sends out an alert demanding your attention.”
There was an infection growing in my tiny cut. That pain let me know I needed to take care of it.
Well, isn’t that absolutely amazing how God designed our bodies? That pain you feel means there’s something you need to take care of! Something needs your attention. The fragile clay jar carrying the great treasure of God’s power needs care. Will you give it the care it needs?
If your body isn’t feeling good right now, what does it need? I bet it needs exactly the same thing you would give your dog. You need to be fed well. You need to be watered. You need to be taken for a walk. And you might need a checkup!
Why is it we care for our dogs better than we care for ourselves?
Check this out, 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”
You do not belong to yourself. This body of yours is on lease! God loaned this vessel to you to carry his Holy Spirit, and he expects you to take care of what he has loaned you. He expects you to honor him with all he has entrusted to you. It’s time to renew the lease agreement.
Are you ready to stop hating what God has loaned you, and start loving it enough to care for it? Are you ready to recognize your body is fragile and the pain you feel is an indication that something needs your attention? And I’m not just talking about physical pain, I’m talking about emotional pain as well. Shame, guilt, disgust, fear, anxiety, depression. This is pain that needs attention. Something needs cared about. YOU NEED CARED ABOUT.
There’s one person that’s been hurting you the most, and one person that can change that and start caring about you the most. That person is YOU.
Here it is, an agreement between you and your Creator who has offered you this body to live in on lease. You don’t get it forever, it’s temporary. And you don’t get to mistreat it any more, he expects better of you!
It reads like this:
This is the one and only body I will ever get. As my creator, you gave me this body to live all my days in. You created it to carry me through life to the end.
I have failed to care for it as I should. I have been unkind to myself in many ways. Because of my lack of care, I recognize I may have shorted myself of days and opportunities.
THAT STOPS NOW.
Please forgive me for how I have taken this body you have given me for granted. I have been abusive to my own self in the worst ways.
Will you help me repair this damage? Will you restore what has been lost? Will you give me another chance?
From this day forward, I commit to treating this body as the vessel which carries my precious soul and your powerful spirit. I will no longer neglect it. I will no longer be ashamed of it, hide it, or talk negatively about it. I will live each day remembering my body is a gift from you. This gift will be taken for walks, well fed, watered, appreciated, respected, and loved. Yes, I will love my body, even as it is, and work to bring it back to it’s best.
God, I will need your help. I have some bad habits to overcome and a hole to crawl out of, but I know with your help I can do this.
I ask you to partner with me in this commitment. In exchange for my commitment to do all I can do, I ask that you do what only you can do.
I want to live every day you have available to me. I not only want to live all my days, I want to live them BIG, whole, and healthy.
I love this body, now I’m going to start living like it. Thank you for this opportunity.
Signed, your daughter, the temporary owner of this body.
If you’re ready to renew the lease agreement on what God has given you to carry you through this life, and recommit to loving and caring for this vessel, I have the downloadable and printable PDF linked in this episode’s show notes at biglifedevotional.com, as well as posted on my social media platforms.
I believe God is calling his girls to stop mistreating what he has loaned us. He’s called us to stop being part of the circles that hate our bodies and criticize ourselves. He’s called us to be the girls who will stand up and say, hey, this body is a masterpiece and it is fragile, and it’s only on lease to me, so I am responsible for taking care of this to the best of my ability! I’m carrying around great treasure inside of me, and this vessel matters. It’s time to start honoring God with my body!
May God’s powerful spirit dwelling within you supernaturally guide your choices and decisions to be well.
Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela
Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com
