What are You Thinking? – Vanity

Greetings Dear Reader,

Some time ago I thumbed through the pages of one of the thicker women’s magazines whilst waiting for an appointment.  Of the 247 pages in the magazine I easily counted 181 that were ads.  The content to advertising ratio seemed to be a rip off.  One would pay over four dollars to be advertised to by the publisher.

Most of the ads in the magazine were dedicated to telling the reader that she was not good enough.  She needed this clothing, hair style, scent, or product to be what she should be as a woman.  This caused me to make a stop shortly thereafter at a magazine stand.  I looked over the magazines dedicated to style, fashion, and culture for men and women.

So much effort and money is put into telling us that we are not good enough.  We need to look, dress, and smell just right or we are no good.  We need to be in the right suit, car, home, and profession.  We need to be sitting on the right furniture.  We are supposed to focus our time and resources on looking right.

All this distracts us from being sure we are thinking about our inner beauty.  The energy required to daily focus on following Christ is enough without using it trying to match the right shoes and bag.  I have enough struggle pushing my pride down without also feeding my vanity.

When I think too much about if my looks fit in with the trends of current culture then I do not focus enough thought on humility and the needs of others.  It is not wrong to dress nicely or neatly.  It is wrong to fail to think well about appearance and vanity.  I must avoid thinking that my outer appearance matters more than my inner beauty. 

Humility and faith must be my focus.  If I am to think well it must be about things that matter.  If I use my resources for attire and appearance it must be in moderation with wisdom and restraint.  What I am thinking about my looks must reflect my desire to follow Christ above all else.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."  ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)