The Skinny on Models

By Jackie Gable

If you consider yourself a normal teenage girl, I would venture to say you have someone in your life you like to model. You adapt their way of thinking, acting, dressing, etc. I always laugh when I see a small group of high school girls walking in the mall dressed exactly alike! What’s with that? Usually it’s because one girl in the group is the model for their fashion dos and don’ts…not a whole lot of individuality going on there.

As Christian teenage girls, who do we tend to model? Sure, we’d like to admit to it being our pastor’s wife, our mom, or some other lady in the church, but the reality isn’t so. Hollywood tends to be our role model and it has a strong influence on the way we think. The headlines read that another marriage has failed, anorexia and depression is the cause of another death, and rehab is prescribed by the court. And in stead of these actors and actresses being a huge warning sign, we fall for the same lies they believed. Our views on love, marriage, reality, our bodies, and life are all skewed as a result.

The biggest lie Hollywood tells is about true love. Lies like…

• Love is mystical—purely chance,
• Love is a fleeting feeling—strikes fast, so follow your heart!
• Love is a fantasy—“happily ever after,”
• Love is supreme—do anything for love, like rebel, cheat, lie, or steal,
• Love is essential—you gotta have it!
• Love is now!—no need to wait,
• Love is sex—temporary pleasure for the body. It’s not about others or God,
• Love is all you need—it will fix everything,
• Love is a person—the perfect person.

Every one of these statements is a lie and is being fed to you by Hollywood – aka: TV, movies, magazines, etc. The foundational lie—do anything to find the right person. Make yourself beautiful, skinny and sexy, then go looking for them! Sadly, this approach places you on a downward spiral of failure—one of looking for the right person only to never to find that person.

Remember what 1 John 2:15 says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world…” Nothing in the world is good. It is all sin and corruption. We forget this truth whenever we listen to the philosophies of the world, like Hollywood. You’ll notice God’s take on true love is completely opposite of the world—read 1 Corinthians 13.

What does God want for you, teenage girl? Instead of trying to find the right person, He wants you to become the right person. You become the right person by focusing on Jesus Christ. The results—you become stronger, more prepared for the future, more mature, and more confident. It settles your emotions, helps you seek love and acceptance from God rather than other people. It prepares you for marriage and will lead you to the right person—God’s perfect choice for you!

So forget about the skinny models of Hollywood! Do yourself a favor and ditch the next big must-see movie or TV show. Endeavour to model the Lord Jesus Christ—the results will be one-of-a-kind; uniquely you.