A Generation Deceived

One of the biggest lies that bombards us from the media is that women, especially young women, must be THIN.  Not just average, but thin. Average, is no longer good enough.  Average is the ‘new’ overweight. This thinking has led to the destruction of many young women and the increasing advancement of bulimia and anorexia.  Currently today, two-thirds of underweight twelve-year-olds consider themselves fat. 

The media purposefully alters images of women on the front of magazines.  Why?  So that women will fall for the trap and be deceived by the lies.  The lie that we are indeed too large for our own good.  The lie that we are indeed not yet beautiful enough but must buy their new “must have” product in order to make ourselves look and feel more beautiful. Their goal is to make sure that you feel the need to buy their products.  And they will push any angle in order to get this accomplished. 

Take a look at the latest magazine covers. Almost always you will find something on the cover to help alter yourself.

“Abs in under 5 minutes” …because your not “sexy” enough…

 “5 tricks to dieting” …because your not “thin” enough…

“Making the cut” …because your not “athletic” enough…

“How to make him want you more” …because your not “desirable” enough…

“Turn your B’s into A’s” …because your not “smart” enough…

“10 steps to a better you” …because your not “good” enough…

Here is a glance into the life of a twelve-year-old girl.  This story is taken from “Lies Young Women Believe.” 

Caitlyn was twelve when she began to believe that she was fat.  At fourteen she began to do something about it.  Most days she just didn’t eat.  She scheduled her high school classes so she wouldn’t have a lunch period.  If she ever caved in and ate, she ate a lot.  Then she felt forced to throw up…and to demand a four or five mile run of herself.  By the time she was in high school she’d starved herself down to eighty pounds; her period had stopped, and doctors were concerned that she’d have a heart attack.  While she was getting treatment, she couldn’t stand the weight she was gaining, though she was still considerably underweight.  To punish herself, she stuck a rusty nail in her arm and left it there for days.  By the time it was discovered, the infection was so bad that the doctors feared Caitlyn would lose her arm, if not her life.

Believe it or not, I knew many girls that went to these kinds of extreme lengths, even in my high school.  Girls I was friends with would often push food around their trays, making it look like they were eating.  Others would just skip lunch entirely, opting to hide out in the locker room or other areas.  


Currently, I hold a job at a local gym and I see young girls come in and workout for hours at a time when I can see the bones in their legs and arms and they look as if they could fall apart at any instant.  My heart yearns to reach out to these girls, but most of them don’t even know they have a problem.  One young girl comes in each day and works out for roughly four hours at a time.  She looks breakable and spends the entire four hours doing a pure strenuous cardio workout.  I understand marathon runners who have to train sometimes hours at a time (mostly because I am a runner), but this is not anything remotely similar.  This is abusing her body because she doesn’t feel that it is currently good enough the way it is.  This, is dangerous.  And this, is a lie. 

Back to the story in Genesis – Eve.  Eve cooperated by listening to the lies that Satan was feeding her.  The first lie that Eve, and we, are prone to make is sticking around long enough to actually listen to the lies that Satan tells us. 

The first mistake we make is to actually listen to something that is a lie. 

You don’t have to touch it, like it, believe it, agree with it, repeat it, - you just have to listen. 

Caitlyn was an athletic middle student then became a fashion&beauty image-obsessed beauty queen. It just takes the initial listening…She began feasting on magazines that gave her advice on men, friendships, social issues, and contained images of sensual photographs of half-naked young women, pro-homosexual articles, and advice on sex…she made the mistake many young women make, believing the lie that “It can’t just hurt to look, …right?” 

We need to run from anything that would send us in a direction that is contrary to God’s purpose for our life. 

“Flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.  Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies” (2 Timothy 2:22-23)

Flee. Run. Get away. Sprint. Go. Hustle. Hurry. Escape. Bolt. Fly. Breakaway.                     
From anything contradictory to God’s TRUTH. 

It is hard because our culture has a way of convincing us that it is not harmful to listen to music, books, read magazines, date non-Christian men, watch movies that are indeed harmful to us.  Of course not all books, magazines, movies, and music are bad.  But I think we need to be more cautious.  We know we’re not supposed to lie, do drugs, get drunk, have sex with multiple people, and yet many Christians enjoy watching television programs that flaunt these themes, listen to music and sing popular songs with unwholesome lyrics, flock to theaters to see a movie with “just one little sex” scene.  Why? 

We know we shouldn’t have idols, spend excessive money, and be consumed by physical beauty but yet we buy Teen Vouge, Seventeen, are obsessed with jean labels, and spend over an hour working on our hair and face every morning.  Why?

DON’T cooperate with Satan.  Steer clear of the lies and the mess and destruction he wishes to impend on your life.

After listening to the lie, we DWELL on it.  And let it soak.  This is mistake #2.

We begin to dwell on what we can’t have and can’t do rather than focus on the amazing and abundant gifts God has already given us.  God is a generous, loving God – that is truth. 

In Deuteronomy 6, God reminds us WHY he places “rules,” not to suck the fun out of our lives but to prosper us.  He has our best interests in mind. 

Do you believe this? Do you believe God has given his children “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 1:3) or do you dwell on the boundaries He has placed in your life and forget that the limits for your protection. 

Enough focusing on the forbidden – more focusing on the blessings!

Messages fired at you constantly tell you that “your not beautiful” and “your not enough” …is it any wonder that our generation struggles with the sense of self-worth and identity?  We can’t afford to dwell on this to lose even a minute of focus on God’s goodness.

Time to listen, read, study, indulge in, relish, love, adore, GOD’S TRUTH which is found in HIS WORD. 

God’s word is an essential part of our armor against Satan’s subtle attacks.

But sad to say, much of this generation doesn’t know Scripture.

Many Christian teens are not falling outright for Wicca, Buddhism, or Scientology.   BUT many Christian teens are being influenced by them…often times integrating half-truths from them into  the Christian faith because they are not well grounded in what God says. 

I fell for this mistake. 

When I began college at age 16 I was not grounded in my faith because I grew up thinking that religion was about practices and rules, not a relationship.  So when I entered college I was quick to fall for Satan’s trap of lies.  I began doing things to merely fit in with the crowd.  I still went to church every Sunday and assumed I was Christian because I was following the “practices” and because my parents were Christian.  I was entirely wrong however.

One girl said this:

“I don’t want to be challenged to read the Bible by my youth pastor or to fast from something in my Christian school chapel.  I want to hear from God myself.  And right now, I just want to hang with God.”

Scary.  In order to hear what God’s saying to you and to understand His plan and purpose for your life, you have to be reading and dwelling in His Word.  You don’t have to search mystically for His voice, he wrote it down for you. 

If your going to win the battle Satan is waging against you, you have got to be getting yourself grounded in Scripture and be able to speak it accurately to those who are parroting Satan’s lies in our culture. 

If you are not filling your mind with God’s truth, you will end up believing his lies whether you want to or not.  And what you believe will determine the way you live.

You may find yourself skipping class or talking back to your parents.

You may be prone to lying or looking at porn.

You may overeat or starve yourself.

It doesn’t matter how we act it out, every sin begins with a lie.  And these lies will eventually become patterned.

Eve listened to the lie: She got close to the Serpent and entertained his suggestion.

Eve dwelled on the lie She conversed with him and considered what he said.

Eve believed the lie: She believed the Serpent’s promise was more trustworthy than what God had said.

Eve acted on the lie: She ate the fruit. 

You can chose to feel differently.  Spend time retraining your mind with TRUTH.  You can win this battle. 

Start diving into God’s word…