Are You Looking to the Media or the Master?
Bible Reading: Psalm 139:15-18
How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumerable! Psalm 139:17
ONE DAY Adam walks in from a hard day of tilling the soil. When he sees Eve, he drops his hoe in surprise. "What's with the tiger fur? You always wear goat skins. I like you in goat skins."
"Adam, darling," Eve says with a little laugh, "goat skins are so out this year. Everyone's wearing tiger fur. Haven't you noticed on TV? Haven't you seen the fashion magazines? And by the way, I'd get rid of that cowhide outfit of yours if I were you. Sheepskin is all the rage with the guys these days."
Okay - so maybe Adam and Eve figured out what to wear without the help of TV, magazines, movies, and commercials. But nowadays it seems we can't get dressed without someone telling us what's hot and what's not.
The media screams that you have to look a certain way to be acceptable. Guys have to be tall, dark, and handsome. Women beat themselves up if they don't have measurements in perfect proportion. If you want people to consider you good-looking, you'd better not have a bad complexion or wear the wrong clothes.
So the media has made up its own standard for what it considers to be a goodlooking person. Maybe you have bought that standard as the ultimate standard. And if you don't look like that, then you probably don't like the way you look.
Does that make it wrong to try to look the way the media says you should? Not usually - at least when it comes to clothes and other easy-to-swap styles. But if you're physically trying to match the media's ideal of a perfect body, look out. You are in for some frustration. Why? Two reasons. First, the media's standard is constantly changing. Don't whittle yourself down to ninety-five pounds if the media says skinny is in, because next year skinny will probably be out.
Second, you are constantly changing. Sure, you might look like a movie star today, but in a few years you will probably look more like how your father or mother looks today. That's just how it works. If you base your self-worth on the way you look, you are going to be frustrated.
You need to base your self-worth on a value system better than the media's - God's. He was the master designer, chief architect, and construction supervisor when you were put together in your mother's womb. He watched it all happen to make sure you came out just right. And he still thinks you're just right. Your basic design and appearance is his masterpiece.
REFLECT: How much do you try to keep up with trends? When does that get in the way of appreciating the way God made you?
PRAY: Thank God for making you uniquely you.
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About the Author
Internationally known author and speaker JOSH McDOWELL has spoken to more than ten million people in eighty-four countries at over 700 university and colleges. He has authored or coauthored more than one hundred books with more than forty-two million in print. McDowell's most popular works are The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict and More Than a Carpenter. His most recent book is The Last Christian Generation. He holds a graduate degree from Talbot Theological Seminary. He has been married to his wife Dottie for thirty-four years and has four children. Josh and Dottie live in Dana Point, California.
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From the ”One Year Book of Josh McDowell’s Youth Devotions 2”, by Josh McDowell and Ed Stewart. Used by permission.
Please learn more about the ministry of Josh McDowell at: www.beyondbelief.com
Copyright © 2004 Josh McDowell Ministry. All rights reserved.
Note: Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from Holy Bible, New Living Translation ©1996