Has a performer inspired you to make a change in your life? A few points to keep in mind.
Due to their talent, personalities, physical attractiveness, and high public profile, performers often become role models to their fans, inspiring them to make changes in their lives. These changes generally fall into two categories:
- Changes in habits or behaviors. These are typically inspired by a performer’s character or personality. For example, a performer may do a lot of charity work, which inspires fans to volunteer in their community. Likewise, a performer may express a great deal of affection for their fans and encourage them to make healthy choices, which inspires fans to quit smoking, leave unhealthy relationships, or overcome depression issues.
- Changes in physical appearance. The inspiration for these changes tends to be more complex. For example, a performer’s active lifestyle might encourage a fan to exercise regularly and make healthier food choices. Likewise, a fan might decide to lose weight or experiment with their appearance in hopes of being more attractive to a performer.
Performers can be a wonderful source of inspiration to make positive changes in our lives, but lasting change requires more than inspiration. It requires strength, courage, and perseverance as well as the loving reassurance that the change is worth it—that we are worth it.
When it comes to human sources (including a beloved performer), these resources are only available in limited quantities. God, on the other hand, has a limitless supply. As Philippians 4:19 (NIV) tells us, “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”
A performer may inspire you to begin, but only God can give you what you need to finish.
Are you making a positive change in your life—or considering making one—because of a performer? Here are two points to keep in mind:
First: What is your motivation?
Is your goal to make this change because of the positive benefits it will bring you and the glory it will bring to God or to attract the attention or approval of the performer? Though there’s nothing wrong with desiring the latter, it should not be your only reason for making this change. If the performer doesn’t notice you and your hard work, will you give up?
Motivation is especially important in regards to changes in physical appearance. The best reason to lose weight is for your own health, and the best reason to eat healthfully and exercise is to take care of the body God has blessed you with. Physical appearance changes made with these motivations result in better health, more confidence, and a greater appreciation for the unique physical appearance God has given you.
Losing weight or changing your appearance solely to appeal to a performer can lead to taking unhealthy shortcuts to see faster results, which may result in regaining lost weight after an extreme diet is ended or even eating disorders. It can also lead to increased insecurity and low self-esteem because you’re basing your entire worth and appeal on your physical appearance when there’s so much more to your identity. As it says in Psalm 139:13–14 (NIV), “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
Second: What will happen to your motivation if the performer who inspired you disappoints you?
Performers are only human, and just like the rest of us, they sometimes say or do things that are insensitive, hurtful, or just plain wrong. It’s only natural to be disappointed or upset when this happens, as someone you looked up to as a role model has let you down. But what, then, happens to the positive change that performer inspired in your life?
If the performer who inspired your charity work is found to be embezzling money from the orphanage they founded, will you stop volunteering in your community? If the performer who inspired you to overcome depression makes a hurtful remark about mental illness, will you become discouraged and give up? If the performer who inspired you to lose weight reveals he only likes women with an impossible-to-achieve figure, will you still hit the gym for the benefit of your own health?
We should make positive changes in our lives based on the strength and resources that God provides rather than on the shaky examples of others. If they stumble, we too run the risk of stumbling and losing the positive changes we have worked for because we have made them our foundation instead of our inspiration.
A performer can encourage you and inspire you, but God is the one who can give you what you need to make a change and see it through to the end.
– Teresa Santoski
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Looking for more godly encouragement geared specifically toward performers and fans? Check out Prayers for Oppa, my performer/fan devotional, which features prayers and Bible verses on Good Health, Performance Safety, Loneliness, and other topics of interest to performers and their fans. For more information, including a sample chapter and how/where to purchase, click here.
