Kingdom Journal

The world is always changing.

Everything is always becoming more advanced. Things need to be faster. They have to be bigger. They have to be smarter, louder, prettier, skinnier, shinier, straighter, stronger, fancier! This is what makes things “better”.

In our heads, the bigger toy is the better one.

The greater amount = the greater the value!

The more popular= the more important!

The one that looks prettier = the unending benefit!

We measure things with this mindset every single day, most of the time without even realizing it as it is a habit embedded in us from a very young age. “If it looks better, it is better”, we tell ourselves.

But the worst part about this is that this idea doesn’t stop with physical items. We don’t just look for the “best” gadget or brand. We begin to measure people by these standards. What’s more, we begin to measure ourselves by these standards.

Last Summer (2O1O), I got to see first-hand how the fashion industry operates. I remember at the peak of my time of service, it hit me how similar the fashion industry is to the way people live their lives.

There is a reason we call it the “fashion industry”, not simply the “clothing industry”.

fash·ion\ a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person.

Fashion is all about staying current and stylish. The reason the fashion/cosmetic industry acts the way it does is because people are convinced that it can help satisfy the requirements of becoming “perfect”.

This is an impossible task.

You are not perfect.

I am not perfect.

We never will be.

It’s well-known by now that this is an industry that, as innocent as it should be, is a very powerful tool for self-destructive behavior. The fashion industry sleeps, breathes and feeds on insecurity and defining a false identity. 

Lies are the most common accessory and insecurity comes in a close second.

There is no hiding it, when you really think things through. This is an industry that thrives on selling a lie. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love clothing (obviously), I love make-up and photoshoots and sets and every lovely aspect that goes into creating such a bold statement with the resources around us.

Clothing, make-up, photos/advertisements are all means of creativity and expression.

God gave us the ability to create and express for a reason, it’s a very important thing! But I believe that just like anything, if God does not come first it can easily be perverted into something it was never intended to be. 

We live with this idea in our head that the next thing is always going to fill some sort of void. We let the changes of the world change who we are. Instead of using resources as tools to help define a work, we begin to work around them and allow them to define us!  A great young man by the name of Jarrid Wilson once said that “what the world really needs is less models and more role-models”. I agree with him on that and those words come with me each day.

Jesus calls us to help define the world.

I recently talked to a friend that passed through my small town for the very first time. He asked me how I can stand living here and how it doesn’t drive me crazy. I told him there is more than there seems and that although it is “a town where people come to die”, I should like to help change that some day.

He asked me how I would do that and it got me thinking.

Even now, I honestly don’t know.

But God does. 

And that is why I am still here. 

Next month, my first article for New Identity Magazine will be published. You will be able to read it, however, if you are a longtime reader of the Kingdom Journal, you will quickly recognize some of the phrases and ideas in it.

The article is entitled “Outsourcing Love”. It is about being a good example to the community around you and trying to effect change in the countless little ways possible… even when you’d rather pack up and leave. 

 Be it in our small community or on a larger scale, our lives were made to help each other be productive for God, declaring that great commission.

He’s invited us to help people find their identity and set a standard. Instead of through vain ideas and “perfection” of fashions, He asks us to help set the standard for what He looks like.

He asks us to be a role-model. One that knows they are not perfect.

One that does not pretend to be

One that is slow to anger

One that is honest to their faults

One that aspires to be better

One that inspires others to do the same

One that finds hope where there is despair

 One that makes Love where there is animosity

One that finds life, even in a place “where people come to die”

All the while, He never asks us to put on our make-up a certain way or buy an expensive leather wallet. He never tells us to patch the holes in our pants (or cut more) or rock a custom-made dress in order to be of use or value. He does not ever ask us to put on things that will fade and He certainly doesn’t become disinterested in us because we failed or put the “wrong” accessories on that day.

He doesn’t care about your suit coat just as He doesn’t hold your past against you. He doesn’t care about your earrings just as He doesn’t give up on you when you’ve stopped listening. He doesn’t care about your new Oxfords with the crisp, white laces and He never worried about the style of music you use to sing about Him…

Instead, He’s called you to a higher standard, to focus on the “upper level” and take the steps daily to getting there.

It is my dream that throughout these next few years, my life will act as an illustration for this truth:

God is not a fashion. He endures forever, is never out-of-style, never out-dated, never faded, old, ugly or unwearable. He always goes with my shoes, isn’t embarrassed to be seen with me in my red lipstick and He will ALWAYS fit me!

If I live my life by these standards, He will never be something as fleeting as a fashion to me… or the people that see me wear Him.

Don’t “try on” God only to toss Him out like last season’s shoes. Instead live your life for Him, setting a good (and consistent) example for others.

Through this, we may have a greater purpose as we use the resources around as tools to helpdefine the world, and not the other way around.

“But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man see; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart’” -1 Samuel 16.7

Let the Revival Begin.

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Bits and pieces of this post were originally written in my personal journal and on my clothing blog last December. I found them more fitting today than I did the day they were written. I hope it touched you too -S