When a group of teenage girls walks by in the mall, chances are over half of them have Adidas Superstars on, jeans from American Eagle and a North Face jacket. Models are being photoshopped to make it impossible for people to compare themselves to, which leaves young girls in a depressed state and wanting to look a different way. Our generation is stuck in a society where we have to meet certain standards to feel accepted. We have to reach a number of followers on Instagram or Twitter, look a certain way, buy clothes from specific stores. We are raising future generations to believe that they not only need to reach these standards, but they need to set new and unreachable ones for years to come.
Instead of teaching the younger people to strive to be fake, we should instill the knowledge of self-worth in them. Psalm 139:14 states, “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Being made in the perfect and flawless image of God, we are not called to be anything but His child. To think that we are anything less is to take away from God’s creation. We lose ourselves in what we strive to be in order to fit in. We do not invest in our individual gifts, and we try to all look the same and act the same. In order to be loved, you first need to love yourself. Too many young people do not realize how valuable they are because they do not look like the models on the covers of magazines. They aren’t the captain of their sports team or at the top of their class academically. They are blinded of their potential because they are comparing themselves to others who thrive in different talents.
God does not ask us to change the way we look, the way we act, or the way we fit into society. Instead, He commands us to separate ourselves from these standards and to be in the world, not of it. Romans 12:2 says, “do not conform to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Separate yourself from the norms of the world and do what you love. God tells us that we are far more precious than rubies (Proverbs 3:15) and we cannot cover up who we were created to be. Be yourself; know your worth.
