Confidence

Miley Cyrus did it again. Jaws dropped when photos of her at the2012 Billboard Music Awards came out showing the star in a double breasted white tuxedo jacket by Jean-Paul Gaultier. The 19 year old star has been the focus of many scandals, from personal pictures being leaked to the web to posing for Annie Leibovitz in nothing but a bed sheet at the age of 16. To many people, this is just Hollywood. Wardrobe malfunctions, like the infamous 2004 Super Bowl halftime show with Janet Jackson, and barely-there ensembles are becoming more of an everyday occurrence. Where once it was scandal to show a little cleavage, it has now become more of a scandal not to.

Cyrus told Lifetime show host Amanda de Cadenet “that the public backlash of her increasingly sexual looks comes from fear of not being able to deal with confident women.” Young girls growing up in these times are getting mixed signals. If they take after Cyrus, they learn that to be confident means baring your body and showing that you have nothing to hide. Television ads tell them that good things happen to those who look good, “good” meaning sexy and hot. On the other end of the spectrum, many girls are taught by parents, guardians, teachers or mentors that they don’t need to look like a model to be confident. “Less is more” and “leave something to the imagination” are phrases heard today.

As teens and young adults, we don’t know who to listen to. We sometimes see our parents as stuck in the past and not able to see how things are changing, especially in fashion.

If confidence is what we are looking for, we are not going to find it in skimpy outfits and bad attitudes. As Christians, we know that this life is not the most important life. It is our life in Heaven that we look forward to. We also know that we are all made in God’s image. He made us precious in His eyes and we need to remember that. Confidence is knowing that we are wonderful as we are and we don’t need to change our look to feel good. Appearance can display more about a person than their attitude can sometimes. It also can mirror their attitude, or personality. A girl showing off her body is more likely to be seen as a trouble-maker and wild. A Christian does not want to be seen this way. Christian girls can show more about themselves by showing less; that they are decent, kind, and pure as their Father made them.

Confidence is not about what you show and not about what you are seen doing. It is more about how you feel about what you do and the knowledge that you are working towards the perfection that God formed you to be.