The Worst Part about Getting Shot in the Buttocks

In case you haven't seen Forest Gump, the title of this post is an augmentation of my favorite of his quotes, "The best part about getting shot in the buttocks is THE ICE CREAM!" Any time I hear someone use the word "buttocks" I think of this quote. For example, read the following article from BBC News. WARNING: It's a serious article, though the Forest Gump quote is funny, at least to me.

Buttocks Injection Death

The main thing I wanted to think through is the question, "What does this say about our culture's world-view?" Obviously, something is skewed.

We all care about how we look, right? Is that bad? Well, I believe that depends on why we care. The book of Proverbs tells us that "as water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man" - Proverbs 27:19. That's written by Solomon, the wisest man ever. He was saying that the most important aspect of a man, even the essence of who a man is, is what goes on in his heart. Then, someone greater than Solomon, Jesus, came and also taught about the heart as a consistent theme, as recorded throughout the gospels. Jesus compares men and women to trees, where the "root" determines the "fruit," meaning the heart determines the actions (Matthew 12). Of course when we talk about the heart in this sense we're not referring to the blood-pumping organ itself but about what we treasure with our deepest desires and passions. "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be, also" - Luke 12:34. Therefore, the most important part of who we are as humans, from God's eternal perspective, is what we treasure with our deepest desires and passions, our heart.

This being said, the question remains. Is it right for me to care about how I look? Absolutely. However, it is not right to be consumed with how I look. That can become idolatry, where I actually start worshiping myself instead of God alone. The next logical question is, how do I know if I care too much about my image? Personally, I have realized a few ways of discerning when I care too much. If I would be embarrassed to admit how much time I spend looking in the mirror, how much money I spend on my clothes/hair/body, how self-conscious I feel to take my shirt off at the pool, whether proud or ashamed, how much time I spend at the gym trying to get ripped, etc... those are all good indicators that I care too much about my physical image. If you travel to foreign countries to undergo life-threatening cosmetic surgeries organized through the black market, you, also, may care too much about your physical appearance.