John 3:16>
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life”. (ESV)
I’ve tried on a lot of
clothing that have said (and promised) “one-size fits all”. I’m not sure if the
people who placed the label on the clothing knew what it was going to look like
once it was put on. Perhaps they were just trying to avoid making different
sizes to fit different people. I get the concept behind it. It saves money.
Truthfully, the one-size fits all label can actually make you feel better, too.
There’s nothing worse than trying to find the right size. It’s kind of nice
wearing something that basically says, “I’m going to fit”. Being over-sized is
kind of comfy. However, most of us aren’t looking for the “one-size fits all”
on everything.
As women, shopping can be
a part of our nature. We usually go shopping when we’re going on a trip.
Finding that “something new” to wear gets our blood flowing! Not being able to
find it in our size can make us feel miserable. And after hours (that’s right,
hours!) of looking and trying things on, we can start to feel hopeless, too.
It’s strange how a piece of clothing can change our outlook. It can set a mood
on us that will make everyone around us just as miserable! We begin to dwell on
how hideous we look. Somehow, our minds do not drift to the fact that just
maybe we chose the wrong size. Maybe we should go one size bigger or possibly
one size smaller. Maybe we don’t need to try that style. In our minds, the
problem is with us and not the clothing.
Before you know it, the
way we view our value starts to decline. In walks the enemy, Satan. Boy oh boy
is he about to have fun! He takes a lie and convinces us that it is truth. He tells
us that we’re too dumpy, too bony, too tall, or too short. Suddenly, those
words start to sink in. We allow them to define us. The more we listen to his
lies the further we go into the pit - a place that’s hard to get out of. It’s a
dangerous place. It’s there that Satan, our enemy, wants the Word of God to not
reach. He wants it erased from our minds and our hearts. It’s there he can hold
us captive to the feelings of hopelessness. Our solution is to “prepare our
minds for action” (1 Peter 1:13a) by taking “every thought captive to the
obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5b). We have to set our “mind on the
things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2). How we
look in something should never be determined by the world. Billboards and
magazines show us pictures of what the world considers perfect. If you’re
viewed as perfect, then your value increases. Right? Our thoughts should be on the things above,
the things that have nothing to do with size.
Our thoughts should be on
who Christ says we are. He says we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm
139:14), “His own special treasure” (Deuteronomy 7:6), the “apple of His eye”
(Deuteronomy 32:10), “more than a conqueror” (Romans 8:37) and “a new creation”
(2 Corinthians 5:17)! Knowing just a taste of how He feels about us should sabotage,
completely destroy, Satan’s plan of hopelessness. When the enemy comes at us
with our value we need to remind him that God says we are pretty valuable to
Him. In fact, we need to remind him that God loved us so much that He sent His
ONLY Son to leave His home and come down to earth to die for us. That alone
should shut Satan up! We need to stand firm on those truths.
All of this beating
ourselves up was simply because something didn’t fit. Sounds absurd, doesn’t
it? Yet it happens every day. It has happened to me more than I care to admit.
I know that I’m not alone. Too many of us allow Satan access to our feelings.
As Christians, you’d think by now that we’d recognize his schemes and avoid
them. You’d think we would remember that we cannot rely on our feelings; they
change too much. Our worth, our value, has never been based on how we feel.
It’s always been based on who God says we are. And He thinks we’re pretty
special.
There’s one place we can
go that will always have our size. The cross. We will never have to try it on
to see if it fits. We will never have to wonder how it makes us look. We will
never be too tall, too short, too dumpy, or even too bony. It’s a perfect fit.
Each and every time. Remind Satan of that truth!
In awe of Him,
~Vonda
**Heavenly Father, thank You Lord for loving us. We don't deserve such love and yet You do. Thank You Father for the value You place on each of us. Enough to die for. When Satan comes at us with lies please help us to remember what You say and not how he makes us feel. Help us to stand firm and remind him just how valuable we are to You. May we never forget that the Cross is the only place that will always have that perfect fit. It truly is a "one-size fits all". ~Amen
