These are crazy times and it would be easy to slip into a negative mindset. That’s why I so appreciate those who bring levity to the situation.
The other day I saw a spoof article featuring a man sitting at his home office desk, wearing a headset and using his computer. He was well groomed, dressed in a button-down shirt . . . and his bright pink boxers! The comical story* claims the man now working remotely wondered why he ever wore pants in the first place.
While I doubt if anyone has gone to those extremes, it’s especially easy in these “shelter in place” days to kick back and get a bit sloppy. After all, who’s going to see us?
But it’s not just extreme situations that can tempt us to slack off. I speak from personal experience. As a young adult, a poor self-concept stole my hope. Bad feelings about myself led to negative thinking and apathy. So I didn’t take care of myself. I ate too much, exercised too little, and allowed a bunch of junk into my mind. Basically, I lived according to how I felt.
Today, it’s a different story. Not that I’m wearing dresses and fancy hairdos all the time, but I now pay more attention to how I present myself, even if God and my husband are the only ones who see me. I Corinthians 6:19-20 addresses how we treat our human frames. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
This physical anatomy, though frail and imperfect, is a gift and is now home to the Holy Spirit. I have a responsibility to reflect that, whether I’m by myself or standing six feet away from the next person at the grocery store. It’s not so much about how I look (though people do judge others by that, fairly or not); it’s about whom I reflect.
It’s also about gratitude. When we’re grateful for or value something, we take care of it. God wants us to steward our bodies, minds, and spirits rather than letting ourselves go. And He promises to help us. I Corinthians 10:13 encourages us, No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
In other words, when we’re tempted to be “Sloppy Joes,” the Holy Spirit will nudge us to make ourselves presentable, to exercise, to set the alarm clock a little earlier for time with God. If we’ll listen, He‘ll lead us out of complacency and poor choices in areas like nutrition, entertainment, and in how we occupy our minds. The more consistently we follow, the happier we’ll be, and the more we’ll look like Jesus.
