About 30 years ago there was a fad that everyone should have their "colors" done in order to be sure they are wearing the colors than enhance their complexion.
A friend wanted me to do my colors at a cost that would have been considered expensive then.
I asked a couple of questions to clarify why anyone would spend that kind of money just to find out which colors looked best on them .
"What if I had something in my closet that was the wrong color for me, but I liked it." My friend told me that I probably didn't have any colors in my closet that I couldn't wear because we naturally gravitate toward the colors that look best on us. But then the question remained, what would I do if I had something in my closet that doesn't look good with my skin. The answer came back, "you would have to get rid of it and buy new things."
O.K. Then, why would I need to have someone hold swatches up to my face to determine the right colors for me if my natural tendency was to gravitate toward the colors that look good on me? I am not the kind of person who does excellence when it would only produce a very small improvement that would hardly be noticeable. Also it makes no sense to have my colors done when I already gravitate to those that look good on me. Next, I am the kind of person who would wear something I like even if the color were not perfect for me. Whether it impresses someone else is not very important to me, I wear what I like to wear.
Excellence is a good thing but striving for perfection is an exercise in futility, since we live in an imperfect world. Doing a great job should be good enough, perfection is not attainable.
So often these marketing schemes that sell us things are geared toward those who do not think for themselves. Appealing to their desire to look great in their appearance, the clothing and cosmetic industries can thrive while unthinking people spend mountains of money on completely unnecessary and the almost worthless illusion of perfection.
We are dealing with this same "have your colors done" mentality in many others things today. The obsession with diet and exercise. There may be an small benefit from micro-managing ones food intake or extreme exercise to maintain a thin looking body, but the benefits are so small they are hardly worth it. In fact, in some cases the extreme exercise, running miles every day has been proven to be detrimental.
Eating the basic four food groups without eating too much and walking a couple of times a week to spend time with the Lord, can be beneficial, however our culture has gone to the extreme in these things expecting to attain perfection or near perfection and mostly to be elevated in the eyes of the world.
People are living and dying the same way as they have for thousands of years. Our life span is a little longer than it was 200 years ago because of health care and the availability of a greater variety of foods, but it is right in line with Biblical prophesy that says we will live 70 or 80 years if we have the strength. God determined this, not us.
It is not the food or the exercise that makes us healthier nor do these things make us live longer. We will live as long as the Lord wants us to live and we will be as sickly or healthy as the Lord decides.
Yes, you heard it, illness is also in God's plan for His purposes, as well as finances and food. It's all in the plan, we have only to accept it, as we act responsibly with the resources He gives us, we will still encounter difficulties in this life because they are the means through which God trains and teaches us.
Perhaps if we stopped spending so much time on health, wealth and exercise, we would have more time to spend worshiping, praying and blessing God.
I like the title of this passage in the Word, "The Cure for Anxiety."
Matthew 6:25-34
The Cure for Anxiety
25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
27 And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?
28 And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,
29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.
30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!
31 Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’
32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Notice in verse 33 God did not say, not to take care of our bodies, He said not to worry about it. When I hear more about food and exercise from a person but rarely hear them speak of Christ, I am suspect of where their mind goes most of the time.
Perhaps we ought to take one week to monitor all the times we speak of food and exercise in one column on a piece of paper and in another column write how many times we speak of Christ, His principles and the gospel. It might open our eyes to what is the most important to us.
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