As a woman, I’ve always felt pressure to be beautiful. I felt it in high school, in college, and through my 20s. But as I’m navigating my 30s in the age of social media and my smile wrinkles increasingly deepen, the pressure to stay young and attractive can feel overwhelming.
Online influencers who look 10 to 20 years younger than they are due to various products and procedures are setting the bar for beauty expectations, and the standards seem increasingly unattainable. Millions of women are flocking to get eyelash extensions, Botox, lip injections, breast implants, laser treatments—the list is never-ending. Not to mention the creams and serums that clutter our bathroom counters.
Beauty products and procedures have become so normalized that they may seem like a “to each her own” choice. But as believers called to glorify God in our bodies (1 Cor. 6:20), we need to evaluate our approach to beauty interventions in light of God’s Word.
Reflection, Not Rules
While there are no black-and-white rules for how believers should or shouldn’t fight aging with these modern techniques, three reflection questions can help us honor the Lord in this area.
1. What are my motives for using this treatment, and do they honor the Lord?
With the rise of body dissatisfaction and the normalization of many beauty treatments, we need to take time to examine our hearts and consider why we’re drawn to these interventions: Am I doing this for acceptance or others’ approval? Am I trying to bolster my sense of self-worth? Am I simply following cultural trends without evaluating them in light of my faith?
We’re called to maintain and steward our bodies in healthy ways so we can use them for God’s glory (1 Cor. 6:19–20). And it’s good to show care in our physical appearance and how we present ourselves to others. But sometimes our use of cosmetic alterations and anti-aging techniques reflects a heart that prioritizes the temporal over the eternal.
As believers, the way we pursue beauty should reflect the fact that our bodies aren’t the most important thing to us. One day, God will fully renew and redeem our bodies. But for now, our job is to steward them, not try to perfect them.
Sometimes our use of cosmetic alterations and anti-aging techniques reflects a heart that prioritizes the temporal over the eternal.
Growing older, having babies, and other life events will change our faces and bodies in ways we don’t like. It’s normal to feel the sting of these changes. But if we perpetually struggle to be content with our aging bodies, prayerful reflection may reveal how we’re basing our identity on our physical appearance.
Instead, when our identity is grounded in Christ, we can be faithful and fruitful in service to him and others, regardless of how many wrinkles or varicose veins we have. Even now, I have to remind myself that my aim isn’t to be the mom who doesn’t look like she has kids. My aim is to glorify God with the body he has given me and to maintain it well so that I can be fit for every good work.
2. Do my resources reflect that my greatest love is Christ?
What we spend money on reveals what we care about. If we printed out our bank statements and calculated how much we spend on beauty products and services alongside how much we give to the Lord’s work, would the results reflect a heart that treasures Christ? If our treasure is where our heart is, then where we spend our money matters (Matt. 6:21).
But money isn’t our only resource. We also need to evaluate how much time we devote to pursuing beauty. How much time do we spend getting ready in the morning and at hair, nail, or facial appointments? How much time do we spend scrolling social media, looking for ways to have better skin, stylish hair, or a more toned body? Comparing that to how much time we spend in Bible reading and prayer is often convicting.
Of course, it’s necessary to devote some time and money to caring for our appearance, and what’s reasonable will vary from person to person. The point isn’t to prescribe limits but to prompt reflection. Perhaps if we devoted more of our resources to being physically healthy, spiritually sanctified, and sacrificially generous, we’d be more content with our bodies as they are (1 Tim. 6:6–8).
3. Do I fear aging, or do I fear the Lord?
When I look at myself in the mirror and see the crow’s-feet around my eyes, the permanent smile lines around my mouth, and the furrowed lines between my brows, the way I respond is telling. Do I turn to my phone and start searching for a new cream, or do I turn to the Lord and express my longing to be made new?
We feel sorrow over the decay we see in ourselves and the world around us that began because of the fall. When we see our reflections and say to ourselves, “I am aging,” we feel the tension that this wasn’t originally how we were meant to be. At the same time, we know that God works all things for our good, so we don’t have to fear his plan for us in aging.
In these moments of longing, we can either speak truth to ourselves or we can frantically grasp at products and procedures, trying to create an illusion of staying young. As Proverbs puts it, “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised” (Prov. 31:30).
Gray hair, cellulite, and wrinkles are part of this broken body that will one day be made new. Trying to circumvent the aging process that God ordained can make us forget the finiteness of this life (James 4:14). But reflecting on our physical deterioration offers us a chance to worship and hope in faith—rejoicing that this isn’t our eternal state (1 Cor. 15:40–58). And reminding ourselves that our hope is in God, not in our appearance or the number of days we have left, can help us navigate aging with peace and joy (Eccl. 12:13).
Fight the Good Fight
The way we pursue physical beauty tells the world around us about what we value. In contrast to our culture’s increasingly unrealistic and unhelpful beauty standards, we have the opportunity to present a joyful understanding of aging, even as we seek to maintain the bodies God has given us.
Reflecting on our physical deterioration offers us a chance to worship and hope in faith—rejoicing that this isn’t our eternal state.
It takes intentionality to think through what measures would be God-honoring and responsible for each individual. And we know the Lord ultimately looks at the heart.
When we come to the end of our earthly lives, it won’t matter how successful we’ve been at fighting the physical signs of aging. But it will matter whether we can say with Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7).
Wrinkles and sags are understandably hard to accept. But if we learn to see them as part of God’s redemptive work in our lives, we can view our bodies with a deeper awareness that aging is bringing us closer to eternity with him.
The Gospel Coalition