WHAT IF I HATE THE WAY I LOOK?

WHAT IF I HATE THE WAY I LOOK?

In the world we live in, there are rules that decide the way we should look and dress. These are standards that tell us how to look in order to be considered normal or even beautiful. These standards are preached mostly by fashion magazines who show models, who many look up to as the standard. With the emergence of social media, the fashion standards are now being determined by influencers who we see everywhere, especially on Instagram. According to studies, 40% of teenagers feel ashamed of their bodies after seeing social media images. We often aspire to look like the images we see and the world strongly encourages us to do so. People often make attempts to change how they look by dieting to either lose or gain weight, bleaching or even trying surgical procedures. This trend is gradually being normalized and this leads to discontentment and self-hate among the youth as we are more susceptible to follow such worldly rules because we often want to gain approval from the world. We often feel the need to be accepted as we see celebrities also join the trend of having an approved look. Many young people struggle with body image. Poor body image leads to jealousy, discontentment, depression and generally affects people’s mental health. These feelings are from one source: the devil. According to the Bible in John 10:10a, “the thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy” [NIV]; from this, we can tell that the devil would go any length to ensure we are never happy. He uses every means possible to ensure our unhappiness. The devil literally controls the world and everyone who is of it as the Bible rightly puts it, “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5:19, NIV). He has set snares everywhere and in everything, including how we should look and so the standards of beauty are unrealistic and made for a few who naturally look like that. This makes many people who do not naturally look like that feel insecure and begin to hate themselves and feel unworthy.

However, as God’s children, we are not to succumb to such insignificant things as our Father in heaven has made us more. Sure, we may not look the way the world approves of but it is God’s opinion we should look for. And what are God’s thoughts about how we look? Well, in 1 Peter 3:3-4[NIV], it is written “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” Basically, the Bible is saying that God does not care how we look outwardly but He does care about our inner beauty, which is having a gentle and quiet spirit because that is what truly matters. God does not want us to be fixated on looks that would fade away anyway. He created everybody in His image and likeness and we are perfect in His sight in terms of looks. With God, there is no such thing as the perfect body type, complexion, hair or weight.

We should not feel bad in any way if we look different from our peers or the people with the “perfect” body because there is no such thing with God. He made all of us perfectly in our own right and we must not allow the devil to tell us otherwise because the devil’s only aim is to lie to us and make us feel unworthy. It is what he has been doing and would continue till the day the Lord Jesus returns again. We are all different and from God - who truly matters in the entire universe - we are perfect the way we are and no standard or rule should make us feel otherwise.