Fat guy in a little coat

Chris Farley in Tommy Boy is the epitome of how I have felt about myself for a long time. I felt down on myself cause I struggled with who I am and where I was going in a while. I didn't truly value myself like I should. I didn't see my value in Christ.

Right now I am down 13lbs since I started dieting a short while ago. I realize my weight has nothing to do with my value, but it has a lot to do with how I see myself.

I started dieting about 4.5 weeks ago because I recognized a few things.
1. My weight was getting in the way of seeing Gods value in me.
2. My wife is working hard on being in the best shape of her life.
3. Youth Ministry easily leads you to eating terrible foods (pizza, chocolate bars, chips, pop, fries, burgers...oh I miss these things)
4. I was not looking so hot, unless someone looks at overweight bearded youth pastors and thinks to themselves "Oh YEAH!"

God values me as a creation of His. I am very good! He sent Jesus to die on a cross for me because He loves me exactly how I am. Whether I am my current weight or 100lbs heavier. But at the same time, God didn't make this body so I can trash it. He made it so I can use it for his purpose, and like any tool you gotta take care of it or it doesn't work very well.

I will be honest, I also have to take better care of myself because my wife works hard to take care of herself. My body is also partially hers, and I know she doesn't want her part to be mostly fat. So I am working on myself as a gift to her.

As pastors and leaders in churches, we often forget about our bodies and the physical bodies of the people we call "the body of Christ". I hope we can correct that. I hope we can start to see the body as a tool to be used for God's glory and that we try to keep it up.

I know some people will always struggle with weight (myself included). Some of us will not have the time to hit the gym so we can look like Ryan Reynolds or Hugh Jackman, we will look a lot more like Seth Rogen or Billy Crystal. But that's not the point! The point is we need to take strides to take care of this physical body so we can take care of the body of the church.