All In The Pursuit of Beauty

Last night I caught about 10 minutes of some show that was highlighting an online business selling something like botox. The site further had videos showing exactly how and where to inject the stuff. This site was not owned or run by doctors yet woman after woman purchased from this site to look younger and feel better about themselves.

They were trying to save a few bucks. The end result was an absolute disaster. Most of these women have since spent thousands of dollars trying to fix what they did to themselves. One woman actually said "I have no one to blame but myself." At least she realizes it. One of the doctors who is working on her now said that even though he's done thousands of these procedures, he would never perform one on himself. It's simply too dangerous. He said the product, if injected in the wrong place, could cause blindness, nerve damage, irreparable scarring.

One woman in Korea who was a former model injected vegetable oil in her face. The end result was a completely disfigured face. She'll never model again to be sure.

All of this for the pursuit of beauty....a fleeting beauty no less. Vanity is perhaps closer to the truth. When Steve came upstairs I was telling him about it and we had what I consider a fairly interesting conversation. In the end we concluded that this is sinful behavior. Now, if a person has reconstruction or plastic surgery as the result of cancer, an accident, combat or the like, that makes total sense. It's not a matter of vain pursuit of beauty. But to remove a wrinkle due to laugh lines or simple aging is the sign of someone trying to find their worth and value in their physical appearance. This is wrong.

I've been thinking about this all day. I totally believe in taking care of oneself and doing what we can but to think we can stop the aging process or become more valuable with surgery is going down a road with dangerous consequences. Not to mention it won't work long term.

These women tried to remove small wrinkles. To them they were huge. Now they have huge scars, have spent thousands of dollars and in the end their small wrinkle is no longer the problem. Every one of them said they now think they look hideous. One wouldn't show her face on camera. The very thing they tried to attain eludes them still.

This is one of the reasons I think it's so important to learn where to find our value. It's why I'm passionate about it. It isn't in what we do, who we marry or give birth to, or what we look like. It's who we are in Christ. That's the only thing that will increase our beauty as the wrinkles come. It will cause us to give of ourselves in service to others, to love others and make an impact for eternity.

This is one message I'll share until the day I die--not only for the reasons stated above but also because I've struggled more often than not with staying grounded with this. It's so easy to get caught up and before I know it, that stronghold is back. I must be on guard against it at all times. We all must. And more importantly, we must teach the next generation the truth.