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Thursday, January 29, 2015

28/365

January 28, 2015

"I will praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:14

While standing in the line at the grocery store, I noticed a front page of a magazine.  I am amazed at how much work goes into glamorizing celebrities.  They are held to a very high regard and standard.  Many of their followers see them as being perfect.  And there is this expectation that since the public sees them as perfect, they must appear that way.

There is a very fine line celebrities must walk.  On one hand they must be perfect, and live up to this surreal character we place on them.  On the other hand,  they cannot appear to be too out of touch with reality or the average person, otherwise they are seen as being uppity.

Celebrities also get criticized for not going all out to look their very best, yet if they go too far, they get criticized for focusing too much on their appearance.  For example, if a celebrity has extra weight on them, their picture may be placed on the front page of a magazine with a tag line like, "Guess who has a muffin top and who doesn't?!"  Yet if they lose too much weight in response to this tag line, they are criticized with, "[Celebrity name] has gone overboard with weight loss.  Needs help!"  Seems as if they cannot win in the public eye.  It is easy to see how some of the younger celebrities fall prey to the image obsession.

The magazine I noticed had a picture of a young public figure on the cover.  There were actually two pictures of this young girl.  One picture was a before picture of her, the other was an after picture of her.  The before picture displayed this beautiful, young and vibrant young girl with a fresh and youthful face.  She looked her age.  The after picture showed a more mature, heavily made up girl.  She looked more sophisticated, and still very nice.  But I couldn't help feel for her.  After a little more examination, it seemed that she had some work done on different parts of her face.  Although I am not sure that she actually had work done, her face did appear that way.  In addition to potentially having had work done on her face, her face was covered in entirely too much make up.  She was already so beautiful, why on earth would she go through all of that to try to improve herself?

Now, I have done my best to not get involved in celebrity gossip and their personal matters.  What is the point?  But while driving home, that girl came to my mind again.  Lord, I pray she would stop getting work done; and that she would see herself as you see her.

God created everything on earth.  He created the heavens and the earth.  And He created us in Him image.  He makes no mistakes.  He created us and when He was done, He said all He had created was very good. (Genesis 1:31).  He did not say, It would look better with a thinner nose, or sharper cheek bones.    He said that it was very good.

In Psalm 139, David expresses to God that he will praise Him because he is fearfully and wonderfully made.  God took great care in creating each and every single one of us.  In fact, the very hairs on our heads have all been counted (Luke 12:7).  Now that is some serious attention to detail  God is a master craftsman, and everything about each of us is perfectly done by His hand.

There is no need to change a nose, or move your eyes up, down or further to the side.  There is no need for a chin lift.  God created you perfect just the way that you are.  Everything about each of us is beautiful and unique.

Now I am not talking about receiving surgery to correct something that will increase better health and wellness.  I mean simply getting a chin lift or nose job because you don't like the way you look.

Eventually, all looks fade, and the only thing that matters is what is on the inside.  Proverbs 31:30 explains it this way, Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain" but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.  

My prayer is that our eyes are opened so that we are better able to see ourselves as God sees us, fearfully and wonderfully made.  Furthermore, I pray that we put more focus on what truly matters rather than the unattainable expectations of society.

PAG

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