My Love Affair with Lashes
by Shauna Wallace
A month ago, I got lash extensions. I actually prayed about it, because I want to please God, and when He said “No,” I did it anyway. As much as I want to walk by the spirit and obey God in the simplest of things, I also want to please my flesh, and my flesh wanted eyelashes!
Anyone?
Before I say more, please hear me: I’m NOT saying lash extensions are a sin. My girls pay for their own, and I think they’re gorgeous!
But for me, because I…
…asked and God said “No,” and because of the idolatrous stronghold beauty has been for me, this was a slippery slope.
So I got the extensions and immediately became obsessed. I compulsively stared at myself in the mirror, at once admiring and criticizing them. Within 24 hours, I decided I would switch lash studios, because a friend of mine goes to one that does brows, too. I asked another friend about lip injections, because why not address the wrinkles on my lip line while I’m at it?
SLIPPERY.
SLOPE.
After one week, I was in bondage and cried out to God, “Please, God, if you’re not in it, I don’t want it!”
That day, I had them removed, and immediately, the obsessive thoughts vanished, not just about the lashes, but about the brows and lips. In obeying God, I laid aside the weight of my obsession, and I was free again.
Hebrews 12:1 (NIV) tells us:
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
Sin hinders, and one of the things God has taught me through the study of His word is that we cannot throw off hindrances and the sin that easily entangles us if we love the world and the things of the world, indulging its empty promises to gain what only God can supply.
1 John 2:15-16 (NKJV) says:
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
As humans, these three things—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—have tripped us up from the very beginning!
Literally!
Consider what Genesis 3:6a (NKJV) tells us about why our sweet sister Eve ate the dang piece of fruit:
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.
Eve’s motives line up EXACTLY with John’s warning. She sees that the tree is good for food—that’s the lust of the flesh, what our natural bodies crave. She sees that it is pleasant to the eye—that’s the lust of the eyes, the things we see and our eyes desire. She sees that it is desirable to make one wise—that’s the pride of life, the things that give us a sense of pride about ourselves, our abilities, our smarts, our lives and accomplishments, and so on.
She sees.
She desires.
She indulges.
Sin enters the world.
An ancient story, yes, but here’s the modern application for us: indulgences become hindrances.
In “throwing off” the lashes, I threw off the lust of the eyes and fixed my eyes on Jesus, who as Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV) says is “the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Is there something you love of this world—a desire to satisfy your eyes, flesh, or pride, and it’s become a hindrance to running the race God’s marked out for you? Is there something tripping you up and entangling you?
There is hope for us!
When we listen to God’s word and do what it says, we taste of God’s goodness and the joy He has for us, and that gives us a distaste for the empty things of this world. It feeds our desire to have what God has to offer more than what we think this world has to offer.
The world says you can have it all, and the world lies. In any given moment, only one thing can be the focus of our eyes and affections. It is this or that, and I don’t know about you, but I want to choose Jesus, and the same joy He set before Him when He endured the cross and scorned its shame for you and for me.
Much love and many blessings,
Shauna
Women are drawn to Shauna’s teaching and Bible studies because of her in-depth yet conversational and practical approach to scripture’s truths as they apply to the nitty-gritty of daily life. The more she studies the Bible, the greater her grasp of God’s grace and love, and the deeper her passion to see others experience the power and freedom of surrendering entirely to Him. She is a wife, mother, and working woman who gladly and transparently connects with women wherever they are by sharing the good, bad, and challenging of her life story, past, and present.
Learn more at www.shaunawallace.com.
