At any given time, there are countless girls staring at their reflection, primping and priming for the off-chance they are accepted into a pageant or photoshoot. It truly is an off-chance. Considering how many girls in the United States are aspiring to be a famous model or a contestant in a pageant, the chances of being successful seem slimmer than the models themselves.
These girls don't just aspire: They live for it. Every step they take, it is a strut for a runway. Every outfit they put on, they are modeling. Every pause in movement is a pose.
Think of the money they spend to perfect themselves! They pay for designer clothes, which are ludicrously expensive (Who would pay two thousand dollars for a dress that will be worn once?); application fees for pageants; costs of photoshoots; and expenses for cosmetics, and - unfortunately - Botox, plastic surgery, and similar procedures (I'm not saying all models have plastic surgery, but it sure seems that way). They hire consultants (mostly women who tried to win pageants, failed, and now coach other girls how to "win") to improve their chances of doing well in contests.
Not only are they investing money, they invest time. Hours and hours are spent practicing their walk, their poses, their facial expressions (their smizing, as Tyra calls it)... They wait for call-backs from auditions and agencies...
It's a shame that so many girls invest so much time, money, and energy into this, only to find out they aren't accepted. What happens to the girls who don't make it into fame and fortune? Do they have a back-up plan? Unfortunately, a lot of girls are so confident they will succeed (or don't know of any other talent they might have), they don't consider an alternative.
What do you dedicate your life to? How much time do you put into that? Is it a hobby, obsession, or passion? Where will it take you? Is it worth the risks it requires you to take?
Know that God can be your greatest passion. He shouldn't be put on hold until Sunday. He needs to be something you live and breathe. Every step you take should be following in God's footsteps. Everything you do should be something He would do.
It's interesting that the word model means to copy. After all, most models are copies of each other. Stereotypically speaking, models are white, blonde, and they act according to stereotypical model behavior (excessive dieting, et cetera). According to some people, good models are those that look like Barbies. Hopefully, everyone knows that Barbies set impossible standards for perfection.
In that light, we should be like models. However, we imitate Christ, not people. We aim for beautiful souls, not beautiful bodies. God is ultimate perfection. We can only strive to be like Him, but never reach that same perfection (besides, if we were perfect, we wouldn't need God). God's perfection shows us our imperfections, all that we need to improve. No, we aren't saved by being good people, but we are to be like Christ. And how are we to be like Christ if we don't see our shortcomings, our need to change for the better? If more Christians start "modeling" God, more people might be able to see why He needs to be in their lives too.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Rear View Mirrors
The Bible is not a book of answers. It is not an instruction manual for life, either. Yes, people--including me--continue to use it for those purposes, but God had something else in mind when he had people write down His Words.
As humans, we love to take things out of context. Newspaper headlines always skew what really happened by trying to abbreviate what happened, sometimes humorously. One newspaper headline read "Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge," while another read "Two Sisters Reunited After 18 Years at a Checkout Counter." The truth of the stories gets completely undermined by the error in the headline.
We do the same thing while reading the Bible and memorizing verses. My pastor recently pointed out that one of the most misused verses is Philippians 4:13 ("I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"). Nearly everyone uses this verse as encouragement in difficult situations or as motivation to attempt achievement at a daunting--or impossible--task. Yet no one looks at the context of the verse. In Philippians 4:10-12, Paul is explaining how he is able to be happy in difficult times, and in verse 13 explains that he can do this because Christ gives him strength. Philippians 4:13 is not a verse to empower people to accomplish the impossible (like becoming the best athlete in the world without proper training), but to encourage others and show it is possible to be joyful in life's toughest trials.
Many other verses we use as a sort of life GPS. We pray and pray and pray, asking God for direction, open our Bibles and take the first verse we see as the rule to accomplish our goal. Often times, we follow this verse blindly as our instruction when, really, that verse has nothing to do with our situation. Context. If God gave you that verse, He wasn't telling you to blindly follow that one verse. He was showing you the passage from His Word, so you could see how He works.
Let's say you were worrying about providing food for your family, so you ask God for help. After praying, you read Exodus 16. You would never assume that God will make manna rain down for you and your family! Instead, see this as a message of God's provision. You need not worry about tomorrow's meal because God will provide for each day's need.
In this way, the Bible is like a rear view mirror. We must look to it to observe how God has worked in the past and see how it can keep us going forward. We have to keep our eyes forward, anticipating how He will work in the present.
As humans, we love to take things out of context. Newspaper headlines always skew what really happened by trying to abbreviate what happened, sometimes humorously. One newspaper headline read "Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge," while another read "Two Sisters Reunited After 18 Years at a Checkout Counter." The truth of the stories gets completely undermined by the error in the headline.
We do the same thing while reading the Bible and memorizing verses. My pastor recently pointed out that one of the most misused verses is Philippians 4:13 ("I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"). Nearly everyone uses this verse as encouragement in difficult situations or as motivation to attempt achievement at a daunting--or impossible--task. Yet no one looks at the context of the verse. In Philippians 4:10-12, Paul is explaining how he is able to be happy in difficult times, and in verse 13 explains that he can do this because Christ gives him strength. Philippians 4:13 is not a verse to empower people to accomplish the impossible (like becoming the best athlete in the world without proper training), but to encourage others and show it is possible to be joyful in life's toughest trials.
Many other verses we use as a sort of life GPS. We pray and pray and pray, asking God for direction, open our Bibles and take the first verse we see as the rule to accomplish our goal. Often times, we follow this verse blindly as our instruction when, really, that verse has nothing to do with our situation. Context. If God gave you that verse, He wasn't telling you to blindly follow that one verse. He was showing you the passage from His Word, so you could see how He works.
Let's say you were worrying about providing food for your family, so you ask God for help. After praying, you read Exodus 16. You would never assume that God will make manna rain down for you and your family! Instead, see this as a message of God's provision. You need not worry about tomorrow's meal because God will provide for each day's need.
In this way, the Bible is like a rear view mirror. We must look to it to observe how God has worked in the past and see how it can keep us going forward. We have to keep our eyes forward, anticipating how He will work in the present.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Geologists and Their Rocks
Geologists study rocks. Rocks. Of all creation that can be studied, geologists dedicate their lives to the study of rocks. Rocks seem random and pointless. Why would anyone want to study them for hours on end? How much can be learned from rocks? Quite a lot, actually, but it doesn't require any geology.
As strange as this seems, we are all very similar to rocks.When you look at yourself compared to the universe, you begin to feel very small and valueless. In the grand scheme of things, we all seem to be worthless and unworthy, unimportant and unuseful. Why should God pay attention to us at all? God sees us differently than we view ourselves and each other. Instead of seeing us as insignificant, He sees as beautiful creatons--His creations. He spends an infinite amount of time just being with us, and being an active part of our lives. And what's great is that He never gets bored with us, like a geologist who enjoys what he does. On TV, we see all sorts of nerdy scientists who are overly emphatic about what they do. All they can talk about is their most recent scientific study or how science applies to every moment of the day. God is, in a way, like that. He is passionate for you.
John 3:16 is probably the most quoted verse from the Bible. "For God so loved the world..." The world. Many times, we forget that we are part of the world referred to in this verse. We forget about the personal love God feels for every individual. The world is such a collective word. It's easy to get lost in the collective world and not realize God has a relationship with every individual, with you, with me. If I wrote the Bible, I might have written it "For God so loved you and me and everybody else.."
On the beach, each grain of sand is a miniature rock. The world is like that endless shore of countless miniature rocks. No one ever stops to care about each grain of sand. Yet God, the passionate God He is, looks at each grain of sand--at you and me--and adores it.
As strange as this seems, we are all very similar to rocks.When you look at yourself compared to the universe, you begin to feel very small and valueless. In the grand scheme of things, we all seem to be worthless and unworthy, unimportant and unuseful. Why should God pay attention to us at all? God sees us differently than we view ourselves and each other. Instead of seeing us as insignificant, He sees as beautiful creatons--His creations. He spends an infinite amount of time just being with us, and being an active part of our lives. And what's great is that He never gets bored with us, like a geologist who enjoys what he does. On TV, we see all sorts of nerdy scientists who are overly emphatic about what they do. All they can talk about is their most recent scientific study or how science applies to every moment of the day. God is, in a way, like that. He is passionate for you.
John 3:16 is probably the most quoted verse from the Bible. "For God so loved the world..." The world. Many times, we forget that we are part of the world referred to in this verse. We forget about the personal love God feels for every individual. The world is such a collective word. It's easy to get lost in the collective world and not realize God has a relationship with every individual, with you, with me. If I wrote the Bible, I might have written it "For God so loved you and me and everybody else.."
On the beach, each grain of sand is a miniature rock. The world is like that endless shore of countless miniature rocks. No one ever stops to care about each grain of sand. Yet God, the passionate God He is, looks at each grain of sand--at you and me--and adores it.
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