Fashion versus Jesus

A beautiful girl walks into the room. Before you notice her infectious laugh or her kind eyes,  you notice that she's wearing waist shorts, lace up boots, a brown leather jacket and a small leather pouch sling bag worn fashionably across her body. Fashionably. This girl is immediately dubbed as "cool" and beautiful because she is wearing all the right stuff.

I ,myself, love dressing up and looking nice and seeing if any of the latest trends suit me, but lately, I have been wondering if this increasing obsession with fashion is interfering with my identity in Christ. Has fashion become an idol that I worship in order to make myself feel good and accepted and beautiful and "cool". Am I being defined by the clothes that I wear rather than by the life that I live?

Look, there is absolutely no problem with dressing so that you look nice, I'm not saying you need to dress like you've never seen what clothes are before, but, it's so easy to fall into the trap. You look all around you and there are SO many trendy people wearing what the magazines say is 'in', or rebelling from what the magazines say, or are just trying to stand out from the crowd and have their own unique style. But is that so you can impress your peers? Is it so that you can get affirmation from society that you are trendy and cool? Is that what makes you feel good about yourself?

In 1 Peter, Jesus has this to say about outward appearances, ' Do not adorn yourselves outwardly by braiding your hair, and by wearing gold ornaments or fine clothing;  rather, let your adornment be the inner self with the lasting beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God's sight '.

I don't think Jesus is specifically saying don't braid your hair, or don't wear gold jewellery, or don't wear that maxi skirt or those skinny jeans. I think he is just gently reminding us to check our heart attitudes, and to remember that the outward stuff is not what makes us beautiful or handsome, but rather, how we treat people and how we live out our faith what attitude we choose to convey. I think Jesus wanted woman to see that no matter what there outward appearance is, if they had a 'gentle and quiet" spirit, they would always be considered beautiful. Which is awesome .

We live by these social constructs which govern how we dress, how we judge others and how we judge ourselves. When we wake up in the morning we shouldn't be starting our day thinking ' what can I wear today that will make me look really trendy and will show off my best assets', but rather be starting our day off with ' how can I best show the people around me that I love them', or  ' how am I going to shine Gods light today'. This is what should be governing our thinking and our living.

Living life from the inside out is what sets us apart from everyone else, and believe me, people will notice your beauty and individuality no matter what you are wearing. Living life from the outside in ,however, just leaves a whole lot of room for self-judgement, insecurity, ego, and jealousy to get in the way. Plus, most of the time, no matter what outfit you put together, you just end up looking like everyone else. Which is boring.

Personally, becoming consumed with self-image has had a hugely negative effect on my relationship with God, and its something I'm working on to improve. I've realised you don't need clothes to define you, God defined you a long time ago when he 'knit you together in your mothers womb'. He made you in His image and He is perfect, so guess what that makes you? It's not a hard one to figure out.

So don't let a piece of material or the opinion of society give you an identity, because you already have an identity and his name is Jesus Christ and he's just waiting for you to realise it.