"Drop 1 Whole Size In A Week"
"Look Great Naked"
"Bikini Ready In 7 Days"
"How To Get The Best Of Everything"
"Slim Sexy Body"
"The 10 Must Haves In Your Closet"
"Don't Like It? Change It! Best Plastic Surgery Tips"
"Discover The New Skinny Pill"
"Get Your Dream Body"
"How To Dress To Catch His Eye"
These are just a few of the magazine covers that I have seen on line and at the check out stand. I now feel like I should be eating paleo, or maybe Atkins, wait...maybe I should eat meat, or was it eat no meat? I'm certain I should spend all of my non-working time running, doing palates, yoga, and or cross-fit. If those don't work then I can lose 21 pounds eating soup, and if that doesn't work I can lose 42 pounds drinking coffee! ( if you know me, I might really look into that last one!) Because, after all, it is all of our goals to be skinny and wear a bikini, right? If none of this works then I can have Oprah tell me how to have less stress and more joy in my life!
These messages scream at us! They scream from the magazine covers, from the TV screen, and from the computer screen. They scream so loudly, it is impossible for us NOT to hear their words. After hearing them over and over they become apart of our daily existence, and then we let them in, to become how we think and or how we define ourselves. Please hear me, I'm not against exercise, or eating right, and or wanting to dress nice. I'm not asking you to stop exercising, or to wear a bag for a dress, or take off your makeup! My concern lies in that we as God's women often look to the culture instead of God's word to define and tell us how to live our lives. That's why I'm asking women to examine every part of our lives and bring it under the authority of God and what He has to say.
Francis Schaeffer is quoted as saying; "the spirit of the age seeps into the church."
A true statement. He was saying whatever is relevant, popular, and the hottest new thing in our culture somehow seeps, becomes a part of, what we believe and how we respond. This is true in our individual lives and it is true in our churches as well. To be women of God, we must know what God says, then confront our culture with the truth, by the way we live our lives. Again, as I have said in the two previous posts, this is not popular! This kind of living will go against even our church culture in some settings, it is not politically correct, and it will cost us to live according to God's word instead of our cultural norms. As God's women we must know what God says about beauty and our bodies.
Our culture says; Strive for external beauty. Spend your money, time, and energy getting the body and look you want. Make sure you look like the image on the magazine. If you don't like a part of your body, change it, then show it off! Your body belongs to you, so flaunt it. Make sure that you wear clothes that are tight enough to accentuate every curve and show off every part that you want others to notice. In attaining external beauty you will attain acceptance and a sense of well being. You will get noticed and receive the attention that you desire and deserve.
Our God says; "Don't be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God." (1 Peter 3:3-4)
Dear sister, be more concerned about internal beauty than outward beauty. A woman who possess a gentle and quiet spirit is a woman who has an inward character that is calm, because she knows Sovereign God, and knows she is not in control, He is. A woman who processes a gentle and quiet spirit has a contented mind and a heart that is free from one who LIVES FOR or MUST HAVE outward acceptance. There is a gentleness about her because she has no need to push to get her way.
"Don't you realize that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, you are not your own."( 1 Corinthians 6:19) "We are the temple of the living God".( 2 Corinthians 6:16) Clearly, scripture tells us that our bodies don't belong to us. We are stewards of them and should care for them in honor of the One that they belong to, God. For those of us who are married, our bodies belong to God and to our husbands. "The wife does not have authority over her body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. " (1 Corinthians 7:4) This scripture speaks to how in a God-centered marriage we give our bodies to one another. When a man can see a woman's breast and those breast do not belong to him, that woman is granting access to parts of her body that don't belong to any other man but her husband. It's not about the act of covering up or conforming ourselves to an expectation that is placed on us. It is about a heart issue. We must all ask ourselves the question, why do I dress the way I do? It's about modesty. Modesty, I'm not sure when the word dropped out of our vocabulary. To speak on modesty today seems to fly in the face of many women who believe it infringes on their ownership and independence of their own body. Modesty, is the quality of being free from vanity or boastful behavior, it is having a high regard for decency in behavior, speech, and dress, it is the practice of simplicity and moderation. Somewhere we have equated modesty with being old fashioned. It's not old fashioned, it's godly.
I remember growing up my mom would say things like, "Kimberly, act like a lady" or "be lady like". She would then go on to instruct me to what that meant. Like, keeping your legs together or not letting your panties show as a little girl. I fear, if we asked a little girl to be lady like; One, they wouldn't know what that meant, and Two, they would be offended! I also remember being a grown woman with two little babies and an older woman telling me how she went to her closet each morning and asked, "Lord, what should I put on today?" I was blown away at the time, but what it impressed on me was that God cared about every detail of my life, even what I wore, because the WHOLE of my life was to bring Him glory. (He loves you and He cares about every detail of your life too!)
Through the years, I have had some darling young women come through my doors that have admittedly said, that their moms didn't teach them. This has resulted in many joyful memories of showing how to mop a floor, clean a toilet, set a table, (hopefully not in that order!) plan a menu, and or cook a meal. Because, "the spirit of the age seeps into the church", we have not had enough older women speaking into younger women's lives about these very real life issues. As a result, the culture has informed women about men, marriage, sex, children, home, work, beauty, and their bodies.
God made us women. We bring to the world something that men do not or He would of made us all the same. In the words of one of my hero's Elisabeth Elliot, "Let me be a woman". Let us be women, learning to live in the design of Designer God and not to spite the design or the God who made us. Oh sweet sister He has redeemed you and called you His, you are much more than what the culture wants you to believe!
What have you allowed to inform you about beauty and your body?
What are you running after?
Still learning to abide,
Kim
"Look Great Naked"
"Bikini Ready In 7 Days"
"How To Get The Best Of Everything"
"Slim Sexy Body"
"The 10 Must Haves In Your Closet"
"Don't Like It? Change It! Best Plastic Surgery Tips"
"Discover The New Skinny Pill"
"Get Your Dream Body"
"How To Dress To Catch His Eye"
These are just a few of the magazine covers that I have seen on line and at the check out stand. I now feel like I should be eating paleo, or maybe Atkins, wait...maybe I should eat meat, or was it eat no meat? I'm certain I should spend all of my non-working time running, doing palates, yoga, and or cross-fit. If those don't work then I can lose 21 pounds eating soup, and if that doesn't work I can lose 42 pounds drinking coffee! ( if you know me, I might really look into that last one!) Because, after all, it is all of our goals to be skinny and wear a bikini, right? If none of this works then I can have Oprah tell me how to have less stress and more joy in my life!
These messages scream at us! They scream from the magazine covers, from the TV screen, and from the computer screen. They scream so loudly, it is impossible for us NOT to hear their words. After hearing them over and over they become apart of our daily existence, and then we let them in, to become how we think and or how we define ourselves. Please hear me, I'm not against exercise, or eating right, and or wanting to dress nice. I'm not asking you to stop exercising, or to wear a bag for a dress, or take off your makeup! My concern lies in that we as God's women often look to the culture instead of God's word to define and tell us how to live our lives. That's why I'm asking women to examine every part of our lives and bring it under the authority of God and what He has to say.
Francis Schaeffer is quoted as saying; "the spirit of the age seeps into the church."
A true statement. He was saying whatever is relevant, popular, and the hottest new thing in our culture somehow seeps, becomes a part of, what we believe and how we respond. This is true in our individual lives and it is true in our churches as well. To be women of God, we must know what God says, then confront our culture with the truth, by the way we live our lives. Again, as I have said in the two previous posts, this is not popular! This kind of living will go against even our church culture in some settings, it is not politically correct, and it will cost us to live according to God's word instead of our cultural norms. As God's women we must know what God says about beauty and our bodies.
Our culture says; Strive for external beauty. Spend your money, time, and energy getting the body and look you want. Make sure you look like the image on the magazine. If you don't like a part of your body, change it, then show it off! Your body belongs to you, so flaunt it. Make sure that you wear clothes that are tight enough to accentuate every curve and show off every part that you want others to notice. In attaining external beauty you will attain acceptance and a sense of well being. You will get noticed and receive the attention that you desire and deserve.
Our God says; "Don't be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God." (1 Peter 3:3-4)
Dear sister, be more concerned about internal beauty than outward beauty. A woman who possess a gentle and quiet spirit is a woman who has an inward character that is calm, because she knows Sovereign God, and knows she is not in control, He is. A woman who processes a gentle and quiet spirit has a contented mind and a heart that is free from one who LIVES FOR or MUST HAVE outward acceptance. There is a gentleness about her because she has no need to push to get her way.
"Don't you realize that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, you are not your own."( 1 Corinthians 6:19) "We are the temple of the living God".( 2 Corinthians 6:16) Clearly, scripture tells us that our bodies don't belong to us. We are stewards of them and should care for them in honor of the One that they belong to, God. For those of us who are married, our bodies belong to God and to our husbands. "The wife does not have authority over her body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. " (1 Corinthians 7:4) This scripture speaks to how in a God-centered marriage we give our bodies to one another. When a man can see a woman's breast and those breast do not belong to him, that woman is granting access to parts of her body that don't belong to any other man but her husband. It's not about the act of covering up or conforming ourselves to an expectation that is placed on us. It is about a heart issue. We must all ask ourselves the question, why do I dress the way I do? It's about modesty. Modesty, I'm not sure when the word dropped out of our vocabulary. To speak on modesty today seems to fly in the face of many women who believe it infringes on their ownership and independence of their own body. Modesty, is the quality of being free from vanity or boastful behavior, it is having a high regard for decency in behavior, speech, and dress, it is the practice of simplicity and moderation. Somewhere we have equated modesty with being old fashioned. It's not old fashioned, it's godly.
I remember growing up my mom would say things like, "Kimberly, act like a lady" or "be lady like". She would then go on to instruct me to what that meant. Like, keeping your legs together or not letting your panties show as a little girl. I fear, if we asked a little girl to be lady like; One, they wouldn't know what that meant, and Two, they would be offended! I also remember being a grown woman with two little babies and an older woman telling me how she went to her closet each morning and asked, "Lord, what should I put on today?" I was blown away at the time, but what it impressed on me was that God cared about every detail of my life, even what I wore, because the WHOLE of my life was to bring Him glory. (He loves you and He cares about every detail of your life too!)
Through the years, I have had some darling young women come through my doors that have admittedly said, that their moms didn't teach them. This has resulted in many joyful memories of showing how to mop a floor, clean a toilet, set a table, (hopefully not in that order!) plan a menu, and or cook a meal. Because, "the spirit of the age seeps into the church", we have not had enough older women speaking into younger women's lives about these very real life issues. As a result, the culture has informed women about men, marriage, sex, children, home, work, beauty, and their bodies.
God made us women. We bring to the world something that men do not or He would of made us all the same. In the words of one of my hero's Elisabeth Elliot, "Let me be a woman". Let us be women, learning to live in the design of Designer God and not to spite the design or the God who made us. Oh sweet sister He has redeemed you and called you His, you are much more than what the culture wants you to believe!
What have you allowed to inform you about beauty and your body?
What are you running after?
Still learning to abide,
Kim
Oh, Kim! These words have been weighing in my heart lately. You hit the nail on the head when you said that there are those who it would offend. I have couple of ladies I don't know how to approach, so I'm letting the Holy Spirit guide and pray and hope for them to hear His call.
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