MARGARET AUSTIN | GUEST

A New Year. The resolutions are scrolling across your news feed. Wellness influencers and “coaches” will scare you into buying their products and eating plans that promise to make you thinner! Younger! More energetic! Just cut sugar, gluten, dairy, carbs, and nightshades out of your diet and you’ll be detoxed! Your gut will be healed to perfection!

But what does God say about your body? You probably already know that Psalm 139 says “you are fearfully and wonderfully made,” but what does that mean when you look in the mirror and don’t love what you see? When you see a photo of yourself from the holidays that you don’t like? How often do you bemoan sugar or carbs in front of your children, husband, or someone you mentor?

The Impact of Negative Body Messages

This past spring, I had the opportunity to write and lead a Bible study on body image with a local dietician. When I asked women if they could remember the first negative body image message they received, the answers made me weep. Many could immediately point to the first message, often from childhood, and often from the lips of a close family member. Proverbs 18:21 says “the tongue has the power of LIFE and DEATH” (emphasis mine). The messaging runs deep. In 2026, do we want to learn to speak LIFE or DEATH over ourselves and our loved ones when it comes to the physical body?

This is not just a topic for women and girls. It matters what we communicate to our boys and men. What I say and how I treat my body sets the standard for what my boys think is “normal.” Will they be grieved if they overhear a girl speaking negatively about her body, or desensitized because they’re so used to their mother’s self-loathing? In the spring of 2025, our Sunday school class studied You’re Only Human by Kelly Kapic, and as we discussed the chapter on bodies, it was clear that this is a real issue for men too. My husband is a former NFL offensive lineman, and a man at our table expressed jealousy over his stature. Yet my husband would tell you that he found the NFL locker room to be a “petri dish of insecurity” when it comes to body image.

When I consider the amount of real estate this takes up in our brains: what to eat, when to eat, how much to exercise, what we look like in our clothes. It is a continual loop. And when I find myself on this loop, rarely do I stop to remind myself what Scripture has to say. It is imperative that I have a healthy lens for thinking and talking about these issues rather than allowing them to consume me.

Looking at Body Image through the Lens of Scripture

I began studying body image while I was in college. In 2007, my RUF intern gave me a book called Life Inside the Thin Cage and it struck a cord. I was grateful that she and I could talk about this topic in a candid way.  A few years after that, I read Gary Thomas’ book Every Body Matters. It was the first time I’d ever seen a book dedicated to what God says about our bodies. In 2018, I read a secular book written by a dietician called Body Kindness. It felt that culture was leading the way with the body kindness movement, filling a gap that I saw missing in our church community. I’d had three babies, and I threw out our scale because I realized how much it controlled me. Then came Jess Connolly’s book Breaking Free from Body Shame. Her words felt like a real call to the church, particularly women, to confront body image issues from a Biblical perspective.

Because God created our bodies, He has a lot to say about it. In fact, the Bible addresses body image from cover to cover. Once you begin searching for it, you see a thread from Genesis to Revelation. Our Creator, the same One who breathed life into our frames and called the human body “very good” rescues His people again and again throughout Scripture. In Isaiah 43:4, God speaks directly to our weary hearts. “Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, and nations in exchange for your life.” He is not surprised when we need rescuing, and He stands at the ready to do just that. Romans 12:2 gives us hope for change from unhealthy thinking about our bodies: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Science is starting to catch up with Paul’s writing. New neurological pathways CAN be built. In 2026, you CAN break the chains of unhealthy body image. But the world is outpacing the church in its messaging, and it is imperative that we catch up. Scripture calls us to far better habits of thinking about the bodies God gave us than anything the world offers.

Changing the Narrative in Community

Changing a false body image narrative requires honesty and self-awareness about how you talk about food and your body. This may be daunting at first, but it’s not something you have to do alone.  A trained professional can be helpful as you sort through these issues. You could also begin having these conversations within the context of your local church—in a Bible study or small group. The second half of Romans 12:2 tells us to “test and discern what the will of God is, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” We have to test our thoughts with what God’s Word says. Ephesians 2:10 says “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” I love how Paul says “we” in these verses. The Christian life is a group project. We were created IN Christ Jesus! We also have the Holy Spirit’s constant presence as we seek to discern the will of God. Additionally, we can lean on the local body of Christ. Once I began having these conversations within my local body, it quickly became clear that I am not alone in this struggle. Lies thrive in the darkness and solitude. Dragging my body issues into the light requires slow, steady work.

In 2026, we can change the way we talk about food, bodies, and health, and we don’t have to navigate this issue alone. The transformational hope of the Gospel compels us to renew our weary minds.

Photo by Caroline Veronez on Unsplash