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b'\\u201cI\\u2019m fat.\\u201d \\u201cMy skin is broken out.\\u201d \\u201cMy nose is too big.\\u201d \\u201cI\\u2019m ugly.\\u201d\\nThoughts like these have haunted me most of my life, particularly during my teenage years. I often wondered what was wrong with me. \\u201cWhy couldn\\u2019t I look different?\\u201d Sometimes just looking in a mirror made me want to cry.\\nMy weight bothered me most, so I tried anything to reduce it. I refused my body nourishment, exercised too much, adopted specific and irrational eating rituals, and spiraled into binge-eating. All of this was an attempt to quiet the sadness inside. I thought if I could control my weight tightly enough, I would be happy.\\nWhat I couldn\\u2019t see back then was that I was believing a lie. I hated my body for how it looked and thought it was worthless. I didn\\u2019t think God cared or had anything to say about it. It took me many years and much wise Christian counsel to realize that nothing could be further from the truth.\\nGod created all of us in His image, the crown jewels of His originally good creation. It was only after humanity\\u2019s fall into sin that we began misusing our bodies and considering them shameful. But even in our broken state, Jesus came to die on our behalf and make us right with God again, no matter what we look like (Romans 5:6-8).\\nNow, God doesn\\u2019t make His home in a physical building anymore: He lives in us. That\\u2019s right, He chose to make the body that I hated and mistreated for so long into His temple. Scripture tells us that we are not our own, we were bought at a very high price: the blood of Jesus. Therefore, we are called to glorify Him with our bodies.\\nSo, if you are ever tempted to view your body as I did, please remember that you are worth much more than you think. The staggering reality is that we, bodies included, are immeasurably valuable because God created us, loves us, died for us, and lives in us. And that, my friends, is a beautiful thing. \\n\\u2022 What does it mean to bear the image of God? What does this say about how valuable our bodies are to God? \\n\\u2022 What does it mean to glorify God with our bodies? \\nDon\\u2019t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (CSB)\\n\\xa0\\nRead Verses:\\nGenesis 1:26-27; 3:7-10; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20'