Women especially often think back on the skinnier years of their lives and say, ‘I’d be happier if I was the size I was then’. On nearly a daily basis, we fixate on a number, a pants size, a letter (S, M, L) and define our happiness by such.

Sadly, it’s easy for us to look in the mirror and  wish to see something else. Our culture has decided that famished is ‘in’ look, and every woman everywhere has fallen prey at some point to wanting to obtain that image. As the years have passed, maybe we realized that at one point we had the ‘in’ look, but were too self-conscious to realize it. And so, we often wish to go back to that ‘skinnier’ time in our lives and go from there.

But what about the inward you? What about the person you are today? Would you trade your outward appearance to go back to your high school or college personality? Would you exchange the growth you’ve made spiritually to shrink back to your skinny years? As women, it’s easy to get caught up in how we look or fixate on how we once looked, when instead we should be dwelling on what our insides look like.

Paul wrote to Timothy and said, “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come” (1 Tim. 4:8). Does that mean that exercising is a waste of time, or that we shouldn’t be involved in things that push us to our physical limits? No. But Paul is urging Timothy to look to his inward self, and make sure that it looks the way it should. And, if Paul were writing to women specifically, he might have said something like this: Bodily exercise profits little, but making sure that you are spiritually skinny–not weighted down with sin–is what matters.

In 1 Peter 3:3-4, Peter said, “Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.” Perhaps for you, wearing costly clothes and making yourself over aren’t struggles like they were for these first century sisters, but perhaps you and I need to tell ourselves things like don’t let your adornment be merely outward–running all the time, stepping on the scale, monitoring every calorie, judging every pudge, but instead focus on your inner person–your heart.

It is so easy to feel down about yourself because of what you see on the outside–I definitely have these days. A lot of those days, actually. And in those weak moments, I have to remind myself that God doesn’t care about my dress size. God doesn’t care about size of my waist. God cares about the inner me. He cares about how big my heart is, and how small my pride is. He cares about how big my love for others is, and how small my selfishness is. He cares about how big my generosity is, and how small my love of money is. But my waist size? Not important. What’s important is the spiritual appetite and work out that I engage in every single day.

So on those days when we reminisce about the ‘good old skinny days’ of years gone by, remember the kind of person you were then. Were you as close to God? Was your character as strong as it is now? Did you know as much about the Bible? Did you have a husband you loved and children you adored? It’s so easy to get caught up in the physical, but remember, God cares about the inward you. So today, let’s all spend more time beautifying our insides!