Why I don’t shave

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So it all started about two years ago. I was twelve years old. I moved into the youth group. I moved up to middle school. All the other girls around my age were shaving their legs. But I didn’t.

I was talking to another girl at church camp, when she asked if I knew how to shave. I said, ” I don’t, and don’t want to. I know I have a good reason for not shaving, but I can’t articulate it.”

What I couldn’t explain then, I can now. Why did I decide not to shave my legs? Because God made me this way, my identity is not in how I look, and I am free to be me.


For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well. -Psalm 139:13-14


 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. -Genesis 1:27


God made each of us perfectly. Each member of our bodies is there for a specific purpose.  From brain, to hands, from nose, to hair. Each and every aspect of our bodies God designed perfectly for a purpose. Why are we so quick to change what God has done for our good?


All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

-1 Corinthians 6:12


Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. – Proverbs 31:30


Shaving or not has no impact on salvation, but it does impact our time. For me, the time that I might have spent shaving, I spend reading my Bible. My identity is not in what the world says it is. My identity is not in how I look on the outside, but on Who rules on the inside. And He says that I am beautiful just the way He made me.


And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. – Romans 12:2


Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

– 2 Corinthians 5:17


The world has an endless checklist. Wear these clothes, use this phone, shave your legs, wear this makeup, buy this brand, then you will be beautiful. But God already made us beautiful. If you have given your life to Him, you are a new beautiful creation, and you don’t belong to the world anymore! We don’t have to do all those things!

I don’t shave because I am different. Not just on the inside, but on the outside too. I believe that God designed each of us perfectly, because He loves us.  I believe that He cares about our heart more than how we look. I believe that He has set me free to be me. By not shaving I am acting on my beliefs. I want the outside to look different, just like the inside is different.

Anyone agree? Anyone want to make a public statement: “I won’t conform to the world, because I don’t belong to the world”?

 

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