The World's Love

Warning: Not suitable for younger readers.

Thursday morning during work, my brain was working overtime. I guess that comes with fervent praying and thinking, something which is not an unusual process with me, but one that I haven't subjected myself to for some time.

Results of this being, 1) I was able to write an email with prayerful consideration, and 2) three blog posts I wanted to write.

This is a minor one, but still an interesting note.


As I was cleaning down the front of her fridge, I noticed that my employer had a certificate on it from her boyfriend/partner. "The World's Sexiest Female". A few of the words underneath were, "hot, sassy, sexy, flirty". The cute little picture in the corner was one of those little-girl stick figures, with an angelic smile, red horns in her head, a pointed tail and a trident. (No, it wasn't me. :) )

It struck me as I looked at it that that is entirely the world's idea of love. All guys want in a girl is the hottest, flirtiest, most gorgeous girl out, and if you don't get her, you're going for second best. Some guys would quite proudly state that they like second bests better, but the point remains that the mindset is still that the girl is second best.
And girls constantly buy into it all the time - including Christian girls. If you aren't trendy and gorgeous, guys don't go for you.
Problem is, the guys act that way, and the girls believe it.

There was one accurate thing about that certificate. It is devilish. It fosters the insecurity most girls feel, always trying and failing to measure up to that unattainable standard.
No matter how hard you try, there is always going to be another girl "more beautiful" than you.
Satan holds up a fake portrait of earthly beauty, and the guys run after the will-o'-the-wisp image, searching for its copy in the girls they meet. The girls run after the makeup and cosmetics, trying to make themselves equal that "perfection".

But your eyes are always going to be too small, too large, too crossed; your nose too snub, too squat, too big; your mouth too large, too small; your hair too plain, too straight, too curly; your figure too tiny, too tall, too fat, too thin.

By holding that standard, Satan distracts the world to search for something unachievable; one of the best tricks he owns to pull people away from Christ, to always search and never find.
And swayed by the influence of those around them, Christians too first follow Lot's wife and look, with the billboards, the shops, the clothes, the perfume, shampoo, the simplest things of life distracting them. Ever noticed those words on the front of your bubble bath? My shower gel reads, "Mystique - sensual and romantic". The bottle and gel are pink - the picture outline on the front, a dark scene, black against a pink background. I was reading it the other day, thinking about it for the first time. Even small things like that are attempts to allure you.

No, I'm not suggesting we go live in communes. :P In the circles I have moved in from a child, my family are considered extremists. In the circles I now move in online, I am labelled as a secularised Christian. The contrast between the two is amusing.
Communes do not allow us to be the witness to the world that Christ commanded us to be. But being involved in the day to day things in the world without conscious thought of what we are facing leaves us open to Satan's almost invisible snipers.

I have written this throughout the day as I move around from place to place. Late this afternoon, I stood in one aisle of the makeup section in the store Boots, and decided to read through some of the selling labels to see if I could prove my point.
Not that I had to look far. Glamour girls flirted with the customers via photo, with swirly, bold writing next to the image of extra long eyelashes giving the fake modest look, or those extra huge lips coloured far redder than ever God painted them.

Take a look at some of these catch phrases used to sell the makeup products.
If you buy one kind of foundation, you end up with flawless skin!
This brand of nail polish gives you sensational nails.
Oooh, look what this mascara gives you - glam eyes, and your lashes get sexy curves. The whole line for one brand read, "Unique triple plump blush for sexy voluptuous volume."
This eye definer exaggerates!
Use this face powder for a soft sexy glow.
Brands of lipstick are Diamond Girl, Hollywood and I Like Boys.

On one of the stands, they had some of the words stand out by putting them on computer-generated ripped pieces of notepaper. "Wild" "glamourous," "glitters," "super-sexy," "bold," "classic," "define," "glitz," "glamour," "sparkly," "stylish," "moody," "pout-perfect".

Not something that you'd notice on a hurried dash to the shop looking for foundation before you race out to a meeting, but it's there. It's small, it's clear, and the message it's sending is unmistakable.
The elusive dream girl, just around the next corner - if you buy this. The will-o'-the-wisp, getting all the attention your heart desires - if you bow down and worship.

Satan creates a circular reasoning pattern that it's very easy to fall into. Humans have an almost unrecognised craving to be something more. Myself, I think it's a remnant of Eden - whether still the sin nature "you shall be as gods", or whether it's a true, real hunger to find the missing perfection we once had, distorted by sin, I can't say.
But only God can fulfill.

Looking in the mirror and dabbing makeup on your face, you leave with one anxious look back - do I look okay?
And there is NOTHING you can do to make that better.
Looking in the Word of God and searching your heart, you leave with one hopeful thought - how can I make myself more open to the will of God?
And there is NOTHING you can do to change yourself there, either - but being willing to allow the Spirit of God to work in your life, and to change what He shows you to change - that makes all the difference.

Then you will find satisfaction. Then, you will find peace.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Make me close to God in all!"