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OK, so I read an article on a Christian website that exposed the dangers of the “Jesus Glow-Up” culture and trend. 


What is that, you may ask?  Well, welcome to my world of 5-minutes-ago!!


Jesus Glow-Up (JGU) is a social media trend where women show themselves before they followed Christ – usually in a modestly attractive light. Then they make a video that shows how much greater their appearance has become since they decided to follow Jesus. 


You can hear the infomercial voice behind the video’s song, saying:  “Wow, ladies! Don’t you want to lose weight, be more attractive, dress better, and find that hidden glow in your skin?!?”  


Well, as silly as this may strike you, it is a real trend. And at its core, it is the prosperity gospel, repackaged. The “prosperity gospel” is a promise, loosely draped in Christianity, that claims if you believe right, give right, or speak and confess right, then God will make you healthy and wealthy!  There is a real struggle between historic/orthodox Christianity and the prosperity gospel in Africa, as I am currently writing. 


The problem is that under both the prosperity message and JGU, the gospel is being devalued – cheapened, and transformed into something it was never meant to be: a heavenly means to an earthly end. Instead of pleasing God, our earthly lives are seen as the chief end of existence. These trends reduce God to a genie-in-a-lamp, i.e. if you do the right thing and say the right phrases, you get your wishes granted. 


Let’s get the order of things put right and biblical. First, if you want to be beautiful, it is right to turn to God. 


Isaiah 61:1a,3a (ESV)
 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
…
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
    to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
    the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;

However, the beauty is on the inside. It is where a life, marked with sin and rebellion are replaced by humility and a devotion to God. It is becoming born again – a new creation! There is beauty in newborns for sure, but that is a beauty that the world will begin to see when they interact with you and notice that something has changed. You are not the same person you once were. Where there was brokenness, there is now hope. Where there was bitterness, there is now love. Where there was anxiety, there is now peace. 

That is the beauty of a renewed life!

And if that renewed life causes you to smile more often, then modern psychology will tell you that you are, in fact, more attractive to those around you. However, it is not the attractiveness that the world celebrates. It is the attractiveness of joy bubbling out from a transformed life.

Therefore, beware of the social media’s attempt to cheapen the gospel and make it about appearances! Here are some tangible things you can do:

(1) Reject it immediately and lovingly help those who are attracted to that worldly appeal. 
(2) Pray for those who are making this content as well as for the ladies they are leading into potentially soul-damaging error. 

1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV)
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on 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 on the heart.”