Encore Post: Our body matters. At first, that might seem to be obvious. Especially in America, we see endless advertisements calling attention to our bodies. We sell products with beautiful people, barely dressed, trying to convince us to buy a car or other products. We are told we need to lose weight, grow hair — or remove it, have surgery to improve our looks or make us look forever young.
Yet increasingly, we are urged to follow our feelings wherever they lead. If we are male, but feel female, we should use modern medicine to change that. If we are female, but feel male, we should change that too. If we feel attracted to someone not of our own sex, we should remain true to that too.
It seems that our body really matters to our society, but, in fact, it is the opposite. We our told what matters is what is inside of us — we should be true to our feelings, wherever they lead. If our body disagrees — no problem! We just change that, ironically, claiming we are born that way. We are, in effect, told to ignore our body and follow our souls. The result is we never seem to be satisfied and the pursuit of happiness ends in loneliness. Except for brief moments, happiness is beyond our reach. If anything, the quest for fulfillment ends with us empty and alone.
King Solomon discovered these things to his sorrow. At the end of his life, filled with every conceivable blessing, after following his passions, he discovered that the pursuit of happiness was an empty exercise. It was “chasing the wind.” What he did discover, however, was the secret of happiness. He explains it all in his book, Ecclesiastes. “Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.” (Ecclesiastes 5:18-20)
Our bodies and souls are gifts from God. Instead of focusing on feelings and what they desire, we do better to enjoy what he has given us. So precious are we — body and soul — that he became one of us in his Son Jesus Christ. He lived, suffered, died and rose again to redeem us. On the last day, he will raise our body from the dust, restore us to the image of his Son and remove sin and death forever. So, yes, our body matters.
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