Appearance is everything reclaiming god's image in an lmage obsessed culture

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Appearance is Everything: Reclaiming God's Image in an lmage--Obsessed Culture

By Paul DatJid Tripp • She stands before a closet filled with clothes and declares she has nothing to wear.

• He wonders if anyone will notice that he has begun t.o dye his hair.

• She surfs the internet for websites that promise a return to the days of her youth.

• She is only thirty.-five, yet she has scheduled her third cosmetic surgery.

• He exercises obsessively with the hope that he can turn around what age has done.

• She goes to a Christian school, but the pressure to look and dress a certain way constantly leaves her stressed and nervous.

Stop, look, and listen for a moment and you will conclude that although people have always fretted about appearance, our culture has reached a level of obsession like never fufc;e.

Appearance, in Western culture, has become a central value, a life .. lo~ersonal guest, a significant, economy.-dnvmg industry, and a huge source of suffering. There has been a significant shift in the way that people think about themselves and assess their identity that negatively impacts individuals, friendships, families, and the church. The shifts that have

*Paul David Tripp counsels and teaches at CCEF and teaches practical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary.

taken place are as influential as the death of feudalism, the Industrial Revolution, or the rise of computer technology. This revolution hasn't deposed a leader, gathered an army, or controlled the nightly news, but has probably been more influential to the way most of us live and view ourselves than if all of those things had happened. A shockingly materialistic view of human identitY has_pushed its way to the forefront of our liv~s. The power of this new ·~identity is evident everywhere around us. Though its rise has been subtle, it has left all of us changed in some way. ~

W arshiping Glory tJersus Worshiping the God of Gtofj Physical creation is a glorious thing because the Creator filled creation with His own glory. The lily, the rock, the river, and the bird all uniquely display the glory of God. The God.-glory that gives creation its luster is meant to produce one thing in everyone who observes. It is designed to driye us to worship. i ·~' It is designed to produce in us a sense of awe ' ' and wonder. It is designed to remind us of who we are. It is precisely here that our t~ble wTtilthe physical creation, and therefore appearance, is rooted. The physical world was designed to constantly remind us of our true identity as the creatures of God. It was meant to warn us away from any false worship and any resultant false identity. Yet, in our sin, the si~t of our__true identity becomes the source of our identity. ........ ....

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You see, it is no more wrong for us to desire to decorate and clothe our bodies in a way that is beautiful than it was for Adam and Eve to dress the garden. It is not wrong to recognize physical human beauty in all of its exotic and multifaceted forms. It is not wrong to notice the luster of a person's dark black hair, or the beautiful bone structure of a face, or the liquidity of deep,blue eyes. There is nothing wrong with observing that God has created billions of noses and each one is different from the other. There is something right about wanting to be physically fit and healthy. There is something fundamentally human with observing and defining beauty. But, we were created to get our sense of who weare from the Creator, not the creation.

Romans 1:18,25 tells us that one of the lasting results of sin on humanity is the endemic tendency to replace the spiritual with the physical. Identity is always rooted in worshi . ~ou wors 1p Wil en up mg t e thing that gives you identity. The person who worships matenal possessions will define himself by his collection of things. The person who worships the acceptance of people will define herself by the group that has accepted her. The person who worships success will get his identity from his achievements. w~ do become like the idols that we worship (Psalm 115:8).

-So, this issue of appearance has been an issue since the fall of people into sin. In our sin we tend to take what was meant to remind us of who we are as our defini.tion of who we are and one of the most tempting places to do this is with our appearance. Observe the visibility and attractiveness of creation and you will realize why it is so tempting to elevate it above its rightful place. When we deny God as the gloiy, source of creation, we stop in our search for gloiy at creation itself. And when we do this, we give it room to rule our hearts and define who we are. If fallen human beings have always done this with appearance, what has caused this to become such a foundational cultural obsession now?

From Obsession to an Institution There has been a shift. Things are not the same as they have always been. Physical appearance has a place in the culture like it has 36

never had before. Although this is but another implication of misplaced worship, seismic shifts have taken place that need to be observed and addressed by all who counsel others.

Perhaps the best way to characterize the shift is to say that this old human obsession with appearance has become institutionalized. It is no longer viewed in the culture as being an obsession. This imbalance is endorsed and encouraged. You cannot be in the culture without being bombarded by this value.

Eveiyone reading this article has been in some way influenced by this societal obsession with physical appearance. Perhaps it's made you feel older than you actually are. Maybe, in a given week, you~ fret more about the fitness of your bQdy than the health of your soul. Maybe you're attracted to people more because of what they look like than the character of their hearts.

Perhaps you simply SPend too much time in the morning trying to get yourself to look attractive enough to hit the street. Maybe you have spent too much this year on your wardrobe. Perhaps you have struggled with the shape of your nose, or your baldness, or the profile of your body.

Maybe you've careened from Atkins, to South Beach, to Weight Watchers and back with depressingly little success. Maybe none of these examples captures your experience, but you've been influenced. We all have.

Physical Appearance Is the Modem Cultural Standard Why has appearance become such a central cultural value? What in the culture has produced this? What has made this such a dominant force in the way we tend to assess our identity? I want to suggest six things that have the institutionalization of influenced appearance identity in our culture.

1. The Cult of Youth We have become a culture that tends to curse old age. When America was founded, there was such esteem for old age that young men would don powered wigs in order to look older. Now Western culture despises old age. We have a deep fear of what it Will do to us. We work to stave it off at any cost. We work to retain any last vestiges of our youth. We use chemicals to fight the physical things that age does to our bodies. American culture is a culture

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of youth and it is very easy to feel that when you are out of your youth, life has passed you by.

Although subtle, the way we view age, is a radical cultural shift and a significant ingredient of our appearance obsession.

The Bible presents old age as an honor and long life as a sign of a life well,lived. But, when appearance is a source of identity, anything that negatively impacts appearance will be feared and viewed as a thing to be avoided. ~ How do the people you minister to view age?

2. Overwhelming Affluence The average person in America lives with riches unlike most of the world has known through human history. And in our affluence we think about ourselves and our lives in ways that we have never thought before. We have money

we all own, we have more free time on our hands than our ancestors ever had. Generally, we don't have to do long hours of hard, physical labor to get our daily sustenance. In fact, we have become so focused on leisure, that we have become a culture that tends to curse work.

L~n to how pecple talk about their jobs. We have lost our sense of the dignity of work. We live for the evening, weekend, or vacation to come, so we can amuse ourselves to death.

Whenever a culture elevates leisure, it elevates pleasure and comfort as well. And that culture will tend to f~~ical things that deliver the pleasure it seeks. The heroes of a culture of leisure will tend to be beautiful people who are capable of entertaining the citizens of that culture. When physically

If there is no God, then there is no eternity, and if there is no eternity, then all that is left is to live for the present. to purchase and experience things that human beings have never experienced before. In our affluence, we convince ourselves that what we want, we neea. In our affluence we are driven by inward craving and outward envy. We fret about what we have and don't have and about what we need and have to have. We have enough money to afford being obsessed about our wrinkles, the color of our hair, or the shape of our nose.

If you live in an impoverished village in North India, you don't count facial wrinkles.

You are thankful that day that your family has something to eat. You hope for food and the thought of a $500 bottle of age,delaying chemicals will simply never enter your mind!

The affluence ofWestern culture has given us the time and money to be obsessed. We have time to worry about things people have not worried about in this way before, and we have the money to do something about it. ~ How are the people you are ministering to dialing with their affluence?

3. The Cult of Leisure We are obsessed with leisure, comfort, and pleasure. Because of the modern conveniences

attractive entertainers become the idols of a culture, physical appearance will then get elevated. Human beings always want to be like ~~----r~~'t-----~ the .heroes they have embraced.

How much aretiieTiVeS of those you counsel ID shaped by the pursuit of leisure?

4. Focus on the Moment Western culture has presided over the death of eternity. If there is no God, then there is no eternity, and if there is no eternity, then all that is left is to live for the present.You will then live for the bes~ow" has to offer. When you live for the physical here and now, you tend to live for the best that it has to offer.

If there is no eternity, then human happiness, human meaning, and hwnan purpos:!l? will be defined by what can be experienced in the moment. Whenever we define meaning, solely in the moment, then physical things will rise in importance, and chief among them will be physical appearance.

Because the physical "now" is where we look for our identity, meaning, and purpose, we tend to do anything we can to extend the material "now" that means so much to us. And we tend to be attracted to anything that makes

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"now" more comfortable and enjoyable. So, we fret more about how we physically look in the here and now, than who we are from the perspective of eternity.

Do those to whom you minister focus too

much on the moment?

5. The Rise of Cosmetic Technology Although many cultures have created means of altering the shape and size of parts of the body, Western culture has taken this to new and exotic levels. We are so excited with our ability to alter our appearance that we not only sign up for cosmetic surgery in droves, but we have created a whole entertainment industry around those surgeries. You can watch an average women turn into the goddess of her dreams right before your very eyes on prime time television! Millions of people sit on the edge of their seats and watch the program, "The Swan" as a group of women are totally resculpted in the hope that they will be chosen the most beautiful. Each week one of these re,engineered

industry. TI1e televisions and computers that reside in almost every American home have a powerful ability to influence the way we think about ourselves and our lives. The images that the media regularly puts before us become the image ideals in the culture. Yet, if you stop for a moment and examine these images, you will notice right away that life in the media often doesn't look like real life. In the prime time television situation comedy, people tend to be more affluent, beautiful, and younger than most of the people that are watching them. These beautiful people, with lots of time and money on their hands, don't look like the average people of all shapes, sizes, and color I see everyday on the streets of Philadelphia.

Looking at young and beautiful people day after day in the privacy of your home, for weeks, months, and years on end profoundly affects the way you respond to the person you see when you look in the mirror each morning. We end up disappointed at who we are, and we do anything

In elevating appearance as one of its highest values, W estem culture has lost its heart. ladies is sent home because, even after the application of the finest of cosmetic surgery technology, she still doesn't measure up. This is how cruel and distorted entertainment becomes in an appearance obsessed culture.

In 2001, the American Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons noted that almost a million cosmetic procedures were done in America. Almost 2 percent of the population has had some form of plastic surgery. If each paid $3,000 (a low estimate), the total cost of all the cosmetic surgeries in 2001 would be twenty,five billion dollars! We have created ways to redesign, restore, or remodel our bcx:lies. What was once a fantasy can now be a reality. And our obsession deepens.

Are the people you counsel hooked on technologies for self,sculpting, as if they were simply medical. procedures? ÂŁ

6. The Ascendance of Visual Media At the center of our visual culture is an ever,present and very powerful visual media 38

and everything we can to achieve the ideal that is broadcast into our homes over and over again.

How much does the media influence the way your counselees think about themselves and their world?

The Death of the Inner Man In elevating appearance as one of its highest values, Western culture has lost its heart. There has been a huge shift in the way that our culture thinks about the identity of people. In our obsession with all things physical, we h~ewing people as being controlled by the content and character of their hearts. To de~artis to re3ect the true na~e of our humanity. In essence, our true self is spiritual and when we deny this, we lose an accurate sense of our personhood and get reduced to a network of interacting and interrelated biochemical machines.

If there is no heart, then there is no inner self, and if there is no inner self then the real you

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is the physical you. So, the health, adornment, and pleasure of the physical self will, by necessity, become the highest of functional values.

But if there is in each of us a heart, as the Bible describes, then there is a spiritual inner self. This ~eans th~Ci> iif the t:CUe you 'iSilo't toe found in your physical body. The essence of your true self is your heart. In reality, your body is just an earth~suit creat.ed by God, and therefore reflecting His glory, but designed to be a house for the real you, the heart. The motivational you, the thoughtful you, the emotional you, and the charact.er that is you, is the heart. It is much more than our bodies that make us different from one another. The place where we are most profoundly different from one another and from the rest of the creation is the heart. What is essentially the most glorious and beautiful or sad and ugly about any human being is not the lines of her face or the profile of his body, but rather the condition of the heart.

Your identity and mine was never meant to be root.ed in the physical self. It was never meant to be attached to the size of your ears, the width of your nose, or the shape of your stomach.

If you take the heart out of the human being, then you take the heart out of the culture. Without hearts, we lose our sense of what is beautiful and essential, or evil and ugly.

Without a focus on the heart, we redefine all these things. The most disastrously formed human being is not as ugly as the ugliness of sin that reSi(le;' m each of our hearts. When a culture becomes more o sessed wi physical ugliness than with the ugliness of the heart, there will be no end to the obsession and imbalance of that culture. True beauty has always been and will always be a matter of the heart. There is nothing ever made that is more gorgeous than a heart ruled by an active and joyful worship of God. And there is but one surgeon who can produce such beauty, the Messiah, the suffering Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let me give you a personal example of the imbalance and obsession of our culture and the way it affects the average Christian family. It's hard to be in school nowadays. Ethan, my thirt.een~year~old son, needed a pair of sneakers.

I decided to be a really good dad and go out and buy them for him. Big mistake! I compounded

my first mistake with an error in wisdom-I bought sale table sneakers. I brought these sneakers home to Ethan. When he opened the box, he said, "You don't expect me to wear these, do you?" "Well, I thought that was the deal-I buy-you wear-that works." And then he said, "Dad, I can't wear these. They're hobos!" In case you not from Philadelphia, "hobos" is the ultimat.e sneaker curse word. It means they're either non,beautiful,people, generic,name,brand sneakers or they're five, year'0ld,name,brand sneakers. They're hobos.

Ethan was convinced that his entire student body was going to yell "Bobos!" as he walked in the front door. His life would be over! And he was almost right.

The culture of identity in America is crass and insensitive to tender hearts. Your children do get rejected because of the wrong shoes.

They're rejected because of the wrong label on their pants. As parents, we need to be careful with how we solve this issue. It's tempting to get spiritual and say, ''You know, Son, God in the goodness of His grace provided this money so that I could buy these hobo sneakers and these nameless pants for you. You ought to be 'boboistic' for His glory! Barefooted children in India want hobos! They dream about hobos!

They pray for hobos!" But when you respond in that manner, you miss a deep spiritual war taking place in your child's heart. I~ is the war of identity. This war is fought in every situation, in every loeation, m every aspect ofhumap life.

Our children are evaluated not by the charact.er of their heart, not by the condition of their soul, not by the int.elligence of their mind, but by their look, by their appearance, by the shape of their body, by the shape of their face, by the color of their hair, by the quality of their clothing. And the message is: "Nothing matters except the physical you. No other identity is important."

You don't solve this identity issue by laying a guilt trip on your kids. You've got to get in and ( ( ( be p~ of this identity war that's being played. " ¡ out in their hearts. This war touches all of us.

We forget how weak and powerless we are in these issues. We forget how easily we, too, are influenced by the deals and values of the surrounding culture. I remember when my parents installed an avocado green kitchen in

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their house-now that was styleJ It was in all the magazines and showrooms. Somebody makes these decisions for you. Someone you do not know and will never see is actually able to define what you will think is beautiful.

This appearance,identity imbalance is simply another aspect of that great war for the heart that goes on everywhere in human life. As parents it's not so much about winning the war with your children about certain physical things, but with the war for your children being fought on the turf of their hearts.

There is Another way We have charted powerful influences that have tended to change our sense of who we are and what is important in life. w~~oe~the physical so quickly and so fundamental y replace th~[? How does the Bib~ help us discern and exegete th~a t repl;acement? These are vital questions for every Christian counselor.

You always counsel people who are under some kind of influenc~ou always counsel people with values that shape the way they act and responeiJYou always counsel people who are in the middle of great spiritual warfare!Romans is a great help to us here.

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickednes~ce what may be known about God is plain to them because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities-His eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understoodfrom what has been made, so that men are without excuse. ~

For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God ror images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. (Rom. 1: 18,23) Romans 1 makes a profound statement about worship: Worship is not an activity-it is an

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identi~.

The issue is not whether we worship; the issue js what or who we wors¥.!?· You are always a worshiper, but in your sin you will always migrate away from worship of the Creator to worship of some as~ct of creation.

With' this movement away from the Creator toward the creation, comes the misdirection of sinful humanity. We consistently replace the spiritual with the physical. We radically shift away from believing that the essence of life is really found in things unseen, that the best of what a human being could know and experience is found in the world of the spiritual. For all the delights of the physical world, those delights cannot compare with the delights of spiritual things. But we still move away from the worship of God. And as we move away from a focus on spiritual things, all we are level with is the value of physical things.

Romans 1 talks about a radical shift in the fundamental paradigm of life-fallen humans innately move away from the Creator toward physical creation. We move away from the unseen One toward visible things. What is the magnetic draw of the creation? It is simple l.t;.. at!nlcts 11s precisel~ because it is physical. You can see it.You can touch it. You can taste it. You can quantify it. This is the reason it is so attractive and so potentially addictive. Because we are physical people living in a physical world, it is hard for us to keep physical things in their proper place.

And why is this such a problem for us? It is because of the resistance in our hearts. We are not just talking about a cultural problem; it's a personal problem. You have an argument with your wife and then feel good again because you give her flowers! Do you understand what you've done? You've handled something deeply spiritual by paying your wife off with something physical. A divorced man goes out and buys a sports car. What has he done? He's dealt with a deeply spiritual thing by getting something physical. He drives down the street in his fancy new car and for a moment he feels good about himself.

When you're sad or upset or discouraged1 do you eat? If you do, you are dealing with a spiritual thing by indulging a physical craving.

As fallen human beings 1 we constantly move away from the Creator toward the creation, away

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from things spiritual toward things physical.

It is not hard to see why physical appearance tends to trump character. Pleasure trumps purity of heart. Security in a location trumps security in the Lord. Physical pleasure trumps satisfaction of the soul. The present trumps eternity. Love of another human being trumps the love of God. Doing what is acceptable by people trumps doing what is pleasing to the God I can't see. Physical trumps spiritual!

The cultural and personal deification of appearance that we have been considering is but one way the physical trumps spiritual in Western culture. If we are ever to gain ground in this obsession of appearance, we have to deal with the whole culture. We have to say, "It's not that cultural them." It's easy to blame them. But we must say, "It's not them. It's us." Examine your

God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all,surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard, pressed on every side, but not crushedi perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so the life of Jesus may be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that His life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then,

The cultural and personal deification of appearance that we have been considering is but one way the physical trumps spiritual in W estem culture. life. How many times do you will allow physical to trump spiritual in your own life?

How much are you helping the people that you counsel to recogni.ze this movement away from God

in their lives?

What's the solution? Romans 1 shows the great inversion of what was meant to be. Life in its fullest, purest form can't be found at the physical places where we're looking. Listen to what Paul says to the Corinthians: Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.

Rather we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the Word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly, we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of

death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

It is written, "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the One who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in His presence. All this is for your benefit so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore, we do not lose heart.

Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.

For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Cor. 4:1,16)

The Gospel is the Only Solution Only the gospel is able to diagnose what is

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wrong with us. It reminds us that the core problem with appearance does not reside in the culture, it resides in our hearts. And we will not escape it by simply by trying to escape the influence of the culture. This diagnosis brings balance to how I think about myself. If my deepest need, my biggest problem is in my spiritual self, it's irrational to spend my time maintaining my physical self or to think that I can solve problems of physical idolatry solely by avoiding the idolatrous culture that surrounds me. So, while recognizing the glory of God in everything He has made and, therefore, refusing to curse the physical self, I recognize that the rebuilding that needs to take place in me is not the rebuilding of my physical body. It's in my spiritual self. It's the rebuilding of my heart.

This is the solution: God fills what was once the ugly blackness of my heart with His glory. God makes me beautiful. He says, "Become a partaker of My divine nature. I come with My grandeur and My power and My glory.

makeover is done in my heart, I will begin to fix my eyes on the unseen beauties of the love of God and the things His grace is producing in my heart.

Physical and material things are deceptive.

They're impermanent. They're impersonal.

They're inflating. They're magnetic. This side of heaven, we will always struggle because as long as sin dwells in us, we will always have this problem of inertia. We feel drawn away from the spiritual toward the physical. How do we stay balanced? Paul says, Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but clothed with our heavenly

This is the solution: God fills what was once the ugly blackness of my heart with His glory.

God makes me beautiful.

I will live inside you." Now what do I have? I have this wonderful balance. I have this weak physical vessel marked with imperfections. It is broken, cracked, not everything it could be. But I am not depressed. I am not in a panic, because this imperfect vessel has been filled with the perfect glory of God in the person of the Holy Spirit. No matter what my outside looks like, true beauty resides inside of mel In His wise and gracious plan, God has designed for us to be "cracked pots" so that His all-surpassing glory can be clearly seen.

Counselors, what is the glory that your counselees live in pursuit of? Is it the glory of the physical creation? Or the one glory that is really glorious, the glory of God? Paul says, "If the gospel diagnosis is right, and if its remedy is right, then I will not fix my eyes on what is seen.

I will fix my eyes on what is unseen. For that alone is where hope can be found" When the ultimate work of the ultimate 42

dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (2 Cor. 5:1-5) Essentially Paul says, "The solution is to live like a camper." This world is temporary. Live as if you really believe in eternity; believe that there is a radical makeover taking place in your heart by means of God's in-dwelling spirit. This makeover is eternal. It prepares you for where you will go. This is the mentality that we want to impart to everyone we counsel.

1bink about living as a camper. The sole point of camping is to make you thankful for home. You go out that first day with visions of rural grandeur. You love that portable dwelling called a tent. You have pilgrim delusions. You enjoy that first meal cooked over the campfire.

You say, "Doesn't food cooked over an open flame taste so much better?" You love that first

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night in that tent, hearing animal sounds in the distance. But three days later, you complain about the gritty food and complain that your back hurts from sleeping on the hard ground.

The tent has taken on sub,human odors. The cooler, once full of ice, is now full of liquid. Your campfire roast, saved for that last night in camp, is now a drowned, soggy, unappetizing, grayish piece of animal muscle. You dream of your bed at home. You long for a stove that turns on with a click. You think that one of God's sweetest gifts is a flush toilet. And you hope someone in your family will say, "Let's go home early!"

That's the way we're supposed to think and live as God's pilgrims in this fallen world.

We say to ourselves, "This is not all there is.

There's more to come. This glorious reality that's happened inside of me is the guarantee that I will be part of this thing that is to come, for which I was created. I'm in an earthly tent now, but one day, I'll be in a heavenly mansion."

But what have we done with camping in Western culture? The same thing we've done with human identity. We now camp in sixty,foot

Winnebagos with satellite dishes, and fifty inch plasma screen televisions. We want a campsite so luxurious that it is better than our home. We have inverted the order.

As you counsel people under the influence of a materialistic and appearance,obsessed culture, it is important to remember that the struggle with the physical appearance thing is not just about the imbalance of our culture.

More fundamentally, it's about the deepest struggle of our hearts. We are people who, apart from the rescuing grace of the Messiah, always replace what is spiritual with what is physical.

We tend to think we've found home because we've been able to afford a Winnebago. We tend to become enslaved to the comforts of the here and now and forget that we are not yet home.

Christ is the only cure for the obsession of our hearts. As we counsel people who live in physical bodies in this physical world, we need to teach them the importance of saying again and again, "This is not all there is. There is more to come, for we are on our way home."

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