So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female. Genesis 1:27
My words…
Praise
God, in Your wisdom, You created humans with bodies. You could have created me as a gas or a liquid, but You chose to give me a bodily form – a form to touch, see, hear, feel, and smell. A form to grow, and a form to die. I never really thought about the reason You created me with a body until I read something Dallas Willard wrote: “The human body is the primary field of independent power and freedom given by God to the people. Put simply – no body, no power. People have a body for one reason – that we might have at our disposal the resources that would allow us to be persons in fellowship and cooperation with a personal God.” You have blessed me with so much freedom and independence by creating me with a body. It is a vessel used to carry joy, sorrow, pain, and knowledge. And it is a temple where I offer You my worship and adoration.
Prayer for me
I fear that I spend too much time considering my body: the integrity of my bones, the soundness of my heart, the sharpness of my brain, the length of my fingernails, the measurement of my waist. It saddens me to think of how much more wise I would be if I spent as much time tending to my spirit as I have to my body.
Forgive me
Lord, forgive me for the many times I did not use my body in a way that would draw me closer in fellowship with you. Forgive my unequal attention to my physical body compared to my spirit.
Prayer for others
So much suicide. I praise You that I have never contemplated taking my own life. I pray for those who choose to stop their hearts from beating, their lungs from breathing, their eyes from seeing. They don’t want to live in their bodies anymore. Such grief, I can’t imagine. I pray they will see, with the eyes of their spirits, a reason to keep living, and breathing, and seeing. Send Your Spirit to guide them toward You – the real Hope.
Thank You
Thank You for the body You have given me. But even more – thank You for preparing a place where I won’t have to be confined in my skin. As much as I love my imperfect, blemished, slightly overweight body, I am ready to trade it in for a new one someday!
More praise
Lord, I am not completely sure what it means to be created in Your image. I have my own ideas from what Your Spirit has taught me over the years, but I don’t have the full picture. It’s enough for me to know that I am made in the image of the One who created me – made in the image of my God. My body is somehow a reflection of You in the way it works, in the way it regenerates, in the way it shows love, in the way it dies and lives again. And therein lies the greatest lesson my body teaches me about You. When it wears out, it’s just the beginning!
