Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? (Matthew 6:25)

Concern For The Body

The beauty industry responsible for selling cosmetics and body imaging is worth around $532 billion. In the United States alone, the fashion industry is valued at approximately $343.70 billion, with store sales in 2019 totaling $195.85 billion. Tattoos and body art has soared from years past to be worth nearly $3 billion. Jewelry worldwide is an industry of well over $300 billion, with the United States earning an annual revenue of almost $61 billion. Health foods globally will increase to an industry worth nearly 1 trillion U. S. dollars by 2026. Fitness and wellness companies make up $100 billion globally. It is clear to see that billions of dollars are spent on body appearance every year.

There is great emphasis placed on body appearance. This takes the form of the types of clothing, hairstyles, makeup, and body image. Body art has no age limit or boundaries. The bold at heart will tattoo most of the body with images and statements and add as much piercing of jewelry as possible to the body language. The world is consumed with a “me, me, me” attitude of focus on the body and everything attached. Supermodels parade with glamour, portraying wealth, beauty, and power. Athletes boast of their physique as indestructible. The peer pressure to conform to the styles of the world are immense in every form. There is pressure to fill life with all the trappings of the carnal world of beauty, glamour, physical prowess, and the glorification of the body.

Jesus warned against the emphasis on the body. There is a need to provide those things necessary for the demands of life but dwelling on and worrying over the matters of the body and clothing destroys the spiritual eye of the child of God. Life is more than all the billions of dollars spent on cosmetics, jewelry, tattoos, body piercings, health foods, and health clubs for one single reason: the body will die. People of all ages die. It will not matter whether a person is rich or poor. The funeral director can only put one set of clothes on the body. Some jewelry may be placed on the body, but then it is buried in the ground. All the money spent on tattoos and body art will be food for the worms. A life consumed is wasted.

The challenge of life is to understand the real value of living. Solomon had fame, fortune, pleasure, and knowledge, and his wives turned his heart away from God. He summed up pursuing the carnal life as nothing more than vanity. There is no profit to the worldly pursuits because the end of the road is death. The end of life should be the awareness of the purpose of life. Having good things in life is not wrong but not to the exclusion of the preparation for the moment after death. Dwelling on all the worldly things is useless. People grow old and die. Get ready for that reality. Nothing in this world is real because it is not tangible. The billions of dollars spent for the glorification of the body are a waste of money, time, energy, and focus. Place your treasure in the heavenly matters where the thief will not break in and steal, and nothing will rust. Then, and only then, will you find true peace, happiness, joy, and contentment.