Hello and welcome to Beauty – the no-frills, no-nonsense podcast where we talk about all things beauty. True beauty. God’s beauty. I am your host and Lemongrass Spa consultant, Deanna, and I am so happy to be behind the mic real quick today!
Earlier in the week I posted a blog about swimming upstream, and I wanted to follow that up with a little scripture, because if the bible is our authority, we need to know and obey what it says – even when that means walking upstream. This scripture applies to life in general and not just my frustration with social media. Social media was an example I thought others might be able to relate to.
We are truly called to be different, and we need to remember that calling. This does not mean you shouldn’t do reels and stories and whatever… This is not me being a prude. This is me sharing my thoughts on a higher calling. I simply think we need to be different. The person God made me is not a person who will be silly - I am all business. It is not a person who has a good voice or slick dance moves. Those are not talents I possess. I don’t want to distort my voice doing something that goes against who he created me to be in order to do something he created me to do. If he created me to do it – I need to just do it. So I am. Without the hoopla. Because that is who I am.
We see Paul encourage the Ephesians in Ephesians chapter 4. His encouragement was targeted. He wanted them to live lives worthy of their calling. You guys, our calling is not our vocation – it’s understanding God’s grace and walking in that grace out of obedience and faith. It is our calling and obedience which naturally make us different.
Our goal as Christians is not to blend in. I think that is why the social media hoopla gets my blood flowing. And isn’t it a great example of the way we live our everyday life? We see a trend and we jump on board without thinking about the consequences. In the process, we may end up compromising our faith. Am I saying that dancing on social media will compromise my faith? No – but the silliness of it might distort the message.
God put us on a road – a road filled shoulder to shoulder with people who are walking in the opposite direction. If we are going to walk worthy of our calling, we have to use our minds and engage with Christ. That is counter-cultural. But if we did it more consistently, we would be in a better place. I believe so many people are questioning their faith or even walking away from their faith because they didn’t live like they were a child of God. They lived like they were a child of the world. They weren’t different. They were swayed by the cultural trends.
I think we miss the call because it is a call to holiness. I can’t think of many times where I was urged to pursue holiness. Every once in a while, I heard how God was holy – but me? No. Holiness is unattainable this side of heaven. But holiness is what we are to strive for. Walking upstream is the only way. You don’t get to holiness walking with the in-crowd. We need to be different, friends. We need to engage with Christ before we can engage the world. Let’s go for his thumbs up.
Okay – join me next week when I will focus on the word “life.” I want to be thoughtful in my response to yesterday’s decision. I am not great at debate and quick thinking, so I am forming my thoughts now and will lay them out a little at a time next week. I really do hope to have a good conversation about the important issue of life. Until then… tell me how you swim upstream. What is difficult? Or easy? How do you do it? Where are you called to obedience?
D 😊
Before I go, I always leave you with a really great Lemongrass Spa product. Masks are all the rage these days, so, to go along with the theme of jumping on trends, I chose to share our Cocoa Clay Mask.
This mask will help draw out impurities in your skin and rehydrate for a great complexion. Sometimes we just have to sit in the muck and then peel it all off. Am I right? 😉 Get yours here!
Be sure to read through Ephesians 4 and really sit in the thought of walking upstream. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
