So here goes.
The “thinspo” phenomenon has picked up more steam lately, with blogs, photos, essays and posts of all sorts, flooding the internet. But it all comes back to dangerous coveting and just how far that coveting can cause damage for those of us struggling with any form of eating disorder or body image challenge.
Now, with the internet everything is accelerated and accessible. And, dare I say, more dangerous? There’s a concept out there; “what you focus on the most, becomes the strongest in your life.” That can be a negative focus or a positive focus.
And, we all know how weight loss and body dissatisfaction target the female population. After all, this quote, unfortunately, still holds relevance:
“The #1 wish of girls 11-17 years old is to lose weight.”
-From: Body Wars: Making Peace with Women’s Bodies, by Margo Maine, Ph.D., Güürze Books, 2000
Yeah, and the ages for affected little children, not just girls any longer, either, are getting lower.
Now we have two year old tots who are afraid to eat sugar or fat because they’re afraid to get fat themselves. We have toddlers excessively exercising, weighing and measuring themselves and their food, again, for fear of getting fat.
What we focus on the most…
Coveting. We want what we see. So, if all we see are dangerous unhealthy images of who we should be, is it any wonder why there are so many of us, in pain, literally “dying to be thin?”
Say what you will about eating disorders: it’s genetic, it’s environmental, it’s a disease. Wherever you stand on this issue, it still, however, doesn’t change the fact that thinspo images do nothing to help the issue. Like someone afflicted with cancer, yet still insisting on smoking three packs of cigarettes a day, thinspo images and triggering blogging are, indeed, no answer, no cure whatsoever; they only cause further damage.
Thinspo, whatever expression it takes, is dangerous idolatry.
“Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god...”
Psalms 16:4
And no effective power, let alone, healing or health, can come from it…
“What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it…a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols…there is no breath at all in the midst of it.”
Habakkuk 2:18-19
Thinspo is a lie!
It’s an illusion of strength, of power, of the unattainable perfection. And, in its pursuit, the results are only life-threatening, filled with despair and hopelessness.
Think differently about it? Think it’s working for you? Really?
How happy versus miserable are you right now?
How happy and powerful can you feel if/when your physical health and strength buckle under the thinspo pressure? And eventually, left unchanged, influenced by this dangerous choice, your health will suffer.
And spiritually, how at peace are you, really?
God never called us to live like this. He called us to love and to be in close relationship with Him.
No person is an island. Indeed, what we say and do in life affects other people. We cannot, therefore, underestimate the destruction which can come from these dangerous thinspo practices. You may see it as only motivating yourself; believe me, it’s not that limited in its reach. When images and messages are sent into the internet universe now, there’s no limit who they will reach, affect- and harm. Each of us must take a thoughtful moment to assess if what we are doing, saying or posting, could be detrimental to another. Is it making another stumble?
After all, each one of us is vulnerable.
God calls us to encourage, to edify, not to tear down.
“Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.”
Romans 14:19
What are we doing then?
It’s vital we recognize we are vessels; we are capable of producing goodness and healing or destruction and harm. God’s given us the free will to choose. None of us can escape that truth.
What are we choosing? God has a better way in which we are to view ourselves…
“O my dove…your form is lovely.”
Song of Solomon 2:14
“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…”
Psalm 139:14
He has created and called each one of us “good’ (Genesis 1:26). Let’s focus on the Truth of that, rather than the lies of thinspo.
God has a better way; He knows better than us…
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9
And He’s working healing and a future in each one of us.
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11
Let’s not fight God; let’s choose Him, His healing Truth, be inspired and motivated by His constant loving work in, through and for each one of us!
“…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
Philippians 1:6
Copyright © 2012 by Sheryle Cruse
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