What If I Simply Want My Clothes To Fit?

Last updated on: August 13, 2015 at 4:17 pm by D. G. Hart

What If I Simply Want My Clothes To Fit? 2015-08-13T16:17:11-04:00 D. G. Hart

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Joseph Epstein remarked in one of his many essays that men when they turn fifty-eight start to thicken around the middle of their physiques. I guess it has something to do with the metabolism slowing down and the loss of testosterone. (I see plenty of pop-up ads for the latter and am worried what will happen not to my body but my computer if I click on one of them.) Since I have hit that magical age, I am also increasingly concerned about maintaining a figure that will keep me from having to buy a new wardrobe. An inch here and there and the pants get too tight, the jackets snug, and the budget restricted. Walking and calisthenics help. So does consuming fewer calories, I hear. But eating less is not much fun when food and drink become some of life’s greatest pleasures.

But now I have to wonder if my concern about weight gain is really evidence of self-hatred:

We compare ourselves to others in the gym. We come away from movies wanting to exercise for eight hours. We would rather jump in front of a truck than take our shirts off at the pool. We feel pathetic and small. We look at ourselves in almost every mirror we pass. When alone, we flex — not because we like what we see, but because we don’t. We have spent hundreds of dollars on pre-workout, weight loss, and weight gain supplements. We research the best way to bulk, shred, diet, and binge.

Maybe this doesn’t resonate with you. But if it does, you are not alone. We have been fed a lie. I know this lifestyle. It’s a locomotive — and too powerful to be stopped by a single blog. I hope to shed some light on what we’re actually trying to achieve with each rep, each yard, each stabbing “You’re pathetic” we put ourselves through.

Aspects of Male Body Hatred

Health is not the issue here. There is a huge gap between being healthy and meeting our culture’s ideal of “hot.” And in that space lies any and every resource for a man to hate his body.

A man who hates his body is really searching for love — a fundamentally relational search for intimacy with self in the form of confidence, intimacy with the opposite sex in being sexy, intimacy with the same sex in intimidation or acceptance, intimacy with authority in competency, and ultimately intimacy with God, in appearing worthy. The lie is that performance offers intimacy at all — it is, in fact, its foil. Yet this is the path we choose.

The solution? Salvation. A proper understanding of God’s love for mmmeeeeEEEE means I don’t have to feel guilty over lacking six-pack abs:

5. Through his Son, we receive love.

A six pack plays no role in God’s love for you. You being conformed to the physical cultural ideal changes God’s love for you exactly 0%.

We are plagued with a negative body image because we feel the exacting eyes of a deistic, disapproving God. We believe that God withholds no good thing from those who walk [and run and diet and work out] blamelessly (Psalm 84:11). Fortunately, the blameless walker gives us the Father’s gifts even though we are evil [and inconsistent and indulgent and lazy] (Matthew 7:11).

Of course, this is true.

But I’m troubled by a tendency among evangelicals to spiritualize everything. Yes, God still loves me if I have a second-helping of apple pie (though I hear that could be an instance of idolatry). Still, what if my concerns are much more mundane? Will God’s love cover my bill from the local haberdashery when I need to find a few new sports coats?

Image By markjhandel

Previous Post

August 11, 2015

A Century Ago Protestants Were Just as Pessimistic

Next Post

August 18, 2015 Same-Sex Foreign Policy

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 2016 Presidential Election 2020 Presidential Election Apocalypse Bible in American Life Biblical authority Books and culture Calvinism Church Life Civil Religion Culture Wars Doctrine evangelicalism Gullibility Heaven and Hell Intellectual life Jesus Ministry modernity moralism Nationalism New Testament Old Testament Otherworldiness Otherworldliness Paul Peter Piety Popular culture Protestantism Psalms Puritans Race Roman Catholicism sacred/secular distinction Sex Shameless Self Promotion Sports Ten Commandments U.S. politics Uncategorized vulgarity worship

Select a Month January 2022 October 2021 August 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz