What Are Your Personal Analytics?
History is entertaining. The various role models and fashion icons throughout history have led to the fashion role models in the world today. History always repeats itself, and fashion is no different. History looks at fashion icons like Audrey Hepburn, Princess Diana, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Grace Kelly, Michelle Obama, and Lady Gaga have all been fashion icons. Today, we now have fashion influencers that encourage certain trends throughout social media. Some of these trends have been influenced by social media by people who have reached celebrity status and were named some of the top “10 Instagram Fashion & Beauty Influencers to Follow in [2020]” such as Kylie Jenner, Zoe Sugg, and Lauren Conrad. There are also other, more local fashion influencers such as Dani Austin, Jen Reed, and Lauren Vandiver Green. What if there was a new movement? What if young women were inspired by these fashionistas, but in a truly inspirational way rather than a way that conjures feelings of depreciation of self-image. How can this be possible? It all starts with yourself. Well, the version of you that is defined by the One who created you.
Due to the sin of the world, there is always part of ourselves that tells us how unequipped we are. There is always a voice that tells us, “you will never be enough,” “you’re fat,” “you’re ugly,” “you aren’t even smart,” “you will never amount to anything,” “there is nothing special about you…” I could continue forever. The reason I can continue mimicking these thoughts is that it is the voice in my head. Today, I am giving these thoughts a name. You declare what it is. Declare that it has no power over you. Not because of who you are, but because of He who created you.
These thoughts are only from the world. These thoughts are your personal “Kermit the Frog” wearing the hoodie meme. It’s this evil voice of the enemy that is trying to destroy you. RING RING! WAKE UP!! This is the voice of the enemy distracting you from achieving your purpose by The Creator. We need to rise to the fight. We need to stop being girls, and stand up to the task as strong, young, Christian Women. The world will tell us that we need to be “thicc,” but only to a certain extent or then we will be fat. You either need to be just pale enough or the perfect sunkissed tan. If you don’t know how to follow the different fashion and beauty trends of the world, you won’t get the followers or likes that you want. Then when this happens, you take the number of likes and followers to heart. Either way, you take it to heart. The number of likes and followers on social media goes to your heart, whether they are high or low. Social media has become a new source of self-identity and self-worth.
This is where we need to break the system. We need to stop looking at social media as a scale that defines our value as a person. Again, this doesn’t come from the number of likes we get or who likes the post. This comes from ourselves and how we compare it to others. If we compared our latest post to the most popular post we have that is a comparison, but it is one made against yourself. At times, that can even be dangerous. However, at least you are not comparing yourself to others.
The bottom line is purpose. The intent behind why you are posting something. The intention behind why we are wearing something or doing something. For the Christian woman, are we wearing something or posting something for our glory and praise in the form of the number of likes we get? Or, are we posting or even wearing something because it points people to Christ and brings honor and glory to Him?
Now, I’m not saying that every post has to have a Bible verse caption or that it even needs to be on the top line of your bio. What I am saying is to look at your intent. Search your heart. The Old Testament speaks of this in 1 Samuel 16:7, “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” If our creator is looking at our heart, we should also be analyzing our own heart to where it aligns more with who He calls us to be, which is more like Him. In the New Testament, Jesus says that “[He] is making all things new,” this is because when we give our lives to Jesus, He gives us a new life, a new identity. (Revelation 21:5) We are not defined by the world because we are not of this world. We were created for something more. If we were created for something more, and are not of this world, our hearts and our minds should align with the truth that God has created us for something more. (Colossians 3:2)
This will take time. I know because this is something that I have struggled with for years. Every day is progress. You can either follow Jesus or the world. This is called the sanctification process, which means becoming more like Christ. We are called to “be transformed by the renewal of [our minds],” which means we need a new way of thinking. If we are called to represent Christ in everything we do, we must start with the heart first by constantly thinking about ways to point others to Christ. What if we truly did that in everything we do? Let’s recap! What if we considered that in what we put on our bodies, what we put in our bodies, how we view our bodies, what we post, what we talk about, and how we view other people? If we constantly thought about ways to honor God, we wouldn’t be so focused on self-analyzing, and then criticize ourselves based on what our social media status is. Why? Because we are not thinking about ourselves at this point. We aren’t focused on our glory. We are focused on promoting the name of Jesus. At this point, we won’t be comparing ourselves to others, but we will all be celebrating together because we all have the same goal of sharing the name of Jesus and His love with others. Regardless of how high your social status might be, if you are declaring the name of Jesus in everything you do, then you are reaching your purpose by reflecting His image.