While walking into supermarkets and other stores with magazines such as “Cosmopolitan” and “Sports Illustrated” displayed on check-out counters, we passively walk by these images seen on the cover without realizing they actually can have an impact on certain people.
When I think of the word “objectify,” the first thing that pops into my head is something, or someone, that has been misjudged or mistreated. Growing up, I noticed many tend to place too much emphasis on outer appearance rather than focusing on inward appearance. It’s as though people try to be accepted by emphasizing these outward appearances in order to culturally fit in.
When seeing ads at the mall, women and men are portrayed as something they are not. The problem is society makes it seem as though this is how we should define others in order for a person to be qualified as attractive. It’s as if society is telling us no matter what we do, we cannot hide from the expectation of how we “need” to look.
People don’t realize how much appearance can consume them. Many feel the need to keep up with the latest trends because unless we don’t, we will fall behind and seem displaced. Don’t feel like the only way to be accepted is by losing weight, wearing tighter, more revealing clothes or bulking up.
No matter what you do, society makes you feel the need to improve and questions whether you really do fit in. No matter how good one feels, society seems to push toward the idea you can do better by just giving into what they or others want. Appearance should not be the focus of our lives. 1 Samuel 16:7 says, “For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” One should not be deceived into believing that appearance is what defines one’s true value. God never judges people for their outer appearance.
Rather, he looks at their inner appearance. We should be valuing people for who they truly are rather than what society wants them to become.
Focus on shaping your inward appearance to be more like Christ rather than focusing on physical appearances.
No one should feel they are being objectified by anyone. Don’t be afraid to be a little different. Embrace who you are. It doesn’t matter what others or society thinks of you. The only opinion that should matter is God’s.
