Thoughts on Image

It’s interesting first of all how easily we take our cues from people in the media. From the mild to the mortifying and everything in between, if someone popular is doing it, saying it, wearing it, or endorsing it, then drones of people will blindly and boldly follow suit. I remember a popular hip hop star who once wore a band-aid on his cheek during a music video. The first time I saw it I thought, “Maybe he had a mole removed, or skin cancer cells scraped off.” The very next day at school there were at least five people sporting guess what…..band-aids on their faces. I bet the teachers thought there was some sort of ringworm outbreak or something! Just today I noticed that many students walking up and down my hallway are dressed very “emo” (if you don’t know what “emo” is let me try to explain it in as few words as possible.) Emo - the term for “emotional hard core”. Emo is a style of rock music that is characterized by pleading or confessional lyrics. It stems from the punk rock genre. The new culture that has risen out of the music is shy or withdrawn, poetic, and clingy. They have a very unique sense of fashion which usually involves extremely tight pants known as "Skinny Jeans" or “girl pants”, long hair, converse style shoes, and dark and unusually tight tee-shirts. Okay back to what I was saying, there are emo kids walking the halls. They all look exactly like the musicians whom they love, and if you ask them, they all - or at least the vast majority - want to be rock stars just like their idols. The problem with that is they have gotten the cart before the horse. They have done things backwards- image first, work second. This poses a real problem. You see, most of the musicians they see on t.v. spent years in orchestra or marching band, taking violin and cello lessons or going to percussion sectionals. They have been called nerdy much much longer then they have been called cool. And yet they persevered through the hard times to get where they wanted to go. So in the end they have a talented, hard working interior, and an “Emo” or “Rockstar”, exterior. Kids only see the exterior. And nobody is telling them that image is the payoff to lots of hard work. Kids today quickly become wannabes.
If we are not careful our relationship with Christ can become the same way, fueling the fire to the world that says we are nothing but a bunch of hypocrites - saying we believe one thing externally but living life in a way that is far different internally. If we take the time to look, we will see Christ and that he has an image that is very appealing. We want it. So we try to externally wear His image. We don Christian tee-shirts and bumper stickers, we go to church, we sing on the worship team and assume that because we are doing Christian-y things we must be like Christ. And we never take the time to consider that we need something internally as well as externally. The difference is that the internal “work” is simply falling in love. (I’m not talking about falling in love with the stuff Christ can do or give us, I am talking about falling in love with God for who He is). When you fall in love with Christ and begin a relationship with Him, you begin participating in a “good work” that Jesus Christ already started in you. We have to go through a process just like the wannabes of the world. It’s a process that will start as soon as you are told about Jesus for the first time, and will end when you die. The process is a beautiful relationship that goes through a time of discovery, and pursuit, and hard times and great times, valleys and mountains, deserts and streams. The relationship transforms you internally and the result will be a genuine Christian that is glowing externally to a dark world full of people who are desperate for something far better than anything the world can offer. We all carry an image. What image are you carrying? Is it simply external? Or is it at the core of who you are. You see everybody wants to find Christ………..but so few want to seek him. -Josh