Matt Gooch

Senior Leader, Light of Lifht Baptist Church

 

How do you look naked is not a question many of us might like to answer honestly. Or maybe that is just me. I am still not over the hill by any stretch of the imagination but at 37 I am aware of my every changing shape – outwards. I was recently shown a picture of myself and was quite surprised how much weight that camera seemed to put on me!

 

I am sure it is not just me who thinks this way many of us are far from content with our body shape. One of the more famous passages in the bible talks about the church as the body of Christ, a strange illustration really. It goes on to talk about how every part of the body is essential to the rest and that if it didn't have a nose or perhaps the eyes were used for hearing the body just wouldn't be right. What makes this all quite scary is the parts of the body talked about are us, our skills and gifts and how they relate to other people around us

 

It may well be the case that you do not regularly attend a church, but what about the families or communities that you live in. I wonder if you think about yourself as an integral part, something with a unique role to play, something that just cannot be lived without. If you are like me, probably not. The reality however is totally different, God made us all unique, he has given us purpose he has a role for us to play in this body not really to just play, but one that is crucial. I wonder what our society would look like if we all lived our lives firstly in the knowledge that we are unique and needed, but secondly that those people around us are also. Look around you now, notice those close to you, you need them as much as they need you

 

So often we give our self such a hard time, thinking we have so little to offer. God looks at us so different, he can see the wobbly bit's and the ugly bits but he doesn't see someone who needs to spend six weeks in the gym. He sees his beautiful child that he has such a wonderful life for, who he desperately wants to see connecting with the rest of the body

 

So yes look at yourself naked, warts and all but remember you might look a bit strange, but boy are you unique and so needed in those communities that you live