The body is what is seen by sighted people, and maybe here lies a clue! Sight-impaired people have a distinct advantage in that they are not affected by what people look like, and even the expression on a face is lost to the blind person. I know that when I was marking correspondence lessons for overseas students it was a relief to know that my physical presence was not going to adversely affect their consideration of the Christian faith.
Now, if we could only learn to look beyond the physical appearance of a person and get to know the heart it would solve a lot of issues including those of pornography, lust, objectification, etc.
God chose to give us a human body for our limited time on earth, so it must be a good thing in itself. However, the body has been affected by sin just like everything else, and as we age the beauty and innocence of our bodies gets tarnished either from sin or decay. Throughout Scripture, the body is described as a house for the real person inside – a temporary place of residence while on this earth. There are references to caring for our bodies, protecting more sensitive parts, not using our bodies for wrong purposes, as well as extolling the place of the body in honorable lovemaking.
Psalm 139 says we are fearfully and wonderfully made, so if we believe that for ourselves and other people it should help us to have a balanced attitude to our temporary bodies. A person who does not recognize or believe in God or life after death can have a careless attitude towards bodies and the people they house because there is no sense of permanence for the personality which shines out. Whereas, for those of us who believe, our bodies can be vehicles through which the light of God can shine.
We can’t change the way others look at bodies but we can let our light shine in the way we treat other people and then maybe some may see our ‘good works’ and give praise to our God.
