First of all, let me thank all of you who follow this blog for faithfully waiting during my summer sabbatical from writing. Sometimes, it is good to get away from the keyboard and allow your creative juices to replenish themselves. During my hiatus, God truly blessed my life. We were fortunate enough to buy a new house, I got to spend 3 amazing weeks of ministry in various places, and in the process got to see 41 people give their life to Christ.  It has been a truly amazing summer. But, now here I sit, writing my first blog from my new office in my new house and tonight, I’m speaking particularly to my girls out there. As a father of two boys, you may think that I am oblivious to such matters as beauty and the self esteem issues that go on in a woman’s life. Let me assure, however, mamma raised me better and I have two beautiful Goddaughters that I treat as my own. So this topic is near and dear to my heart because I think of them when I talk about it.

Now I have been blessed to have a ridiculously awesome career. By day I teach my favorite school subject, history, and I also get to have the coolest job on the planet ministering to teenagers. I have also been blessed in the last couple of years to be a published writer (both a hobby and a passion). Now, while I truly love being the writer of a blog, I would not count self publication. I am actually a writer for a magazine called YLO (Youth Leaders Only) where I am given various Christian songs and I write bible studies for those songs. Youth Pastors all over the country subscribe and use these studies…it is pretty cool to think about.  One of the things that I get to do for YLO is I get to write Re-tunes. This is where they give me a secular song and I write a bible study for it. This latest edition, I was given the song Try, by Colbie Caillat. Not listening to secular music much, I hadn’t heard it. When I did, it hit me like a ton of bricks. 

You see there is an increasing problem in our society today. The definition of beauty has been vastly distorted by the Godlessness of the world. The entertainment business has led the charge in giving women and men alike, unrealistic images of what true beauty is. These images, which are often enhanced by today’s computer editing software, paint a picture that is both demeaning of women and misleading to men. That is only half of the problem though. The other half of the problem is that we continually buy into this fairy tale land of what we are supposed to look like. We have abandoned the one source that truly defines beauty in favor of the world’s definition that is practically unattainable, and causes heartache, insecurity, and at the worst case…suicide.

In order to return to a true definition of beauty, we need to look no further than Genesis 1:27 which tells us, “So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.” This one simple verse points back to the true and original source. This verse points to the One who created the definition of beauty when he created us all. God created the Earth and said, “it was good,” but when He created us, He said that it was “very good.” We need not look to the world to define our beauty.

The song, Try, echoes this false doctrine given to us by this world, a world not influenced by God, by the carnal urges of sinful man. The song points out that women should wear certain makeup, dress in ways that are revealing because that is what men want. The song talks about how girls are told that they need to look a certain way, be a certain size, and wear certain clothes. But, the song reminds women that they don’t need to try to please a world that doesn’t appreciate them for who they are. The song points out what many women forget and that is answering the question, do you like you? The God of all creation does not take time to make junk. This includes all of us. This includes even the guys who are feeling increasing pressure to have a certain look. We are told that God made us fearfully and wonderfully in Pslams 139:14. It is time that we start looking to the Father for the definition of our beauty instead of relying on a world where the cultural DNA promotes a skewed version of reality.

The world is a Godless place that constantly preys on our insecurities and our perceived deficiencies. However, we need to take heart in the fact that God does not take the time to make junk. We need to block out what the world tells us is the only way to look. Our focus should be on our Father’s definition of beauty, the way He created us. The only words we should ever concern ourselves with is when our Lord says, “Well done good and faithful servant.” God made you special. He made you who you are, how you are for a great purpose. Do not conform to this world and their thoughts and ways because you don’t have to try, God loves you just the way He made you.

In Christ Alone,
Rev. Bro Coach