ORLANDO, Fla. (BP)–From the “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” website:
“Five gay men, out to make over the world — one straight guy at a time. They are the Fab Five: an elite team of gay men dedicated to extolling the simple virtues of style, taste and class. Each week their mission is to transform a style-deficient and culture-deprived straight man from drab to fab in each of their respective categories: fashion, food & wine, interior design, grooming and culture.”
In the Old Testament God had deep opinions on fashion (no blended shirts and ornate robes for the priests), food & wine (stay away from scallops and in the New Testament Jesus turned water into wine). And speaking of interior design, His temple was inlaid with intricately detailed gold! There were also many guidelines about grooming and how to operate within a culture.
But, God’s purposes in these guidelines were to reveal His holiness and expose sin.
He wants us to settle for nothing less than His standards for how we should live. He wants us to cry out for mercy, receive salvation and be content and productive where He places us. He wants us to esteem Him as the Creator and Author of all things perfect and beautiful.
In a 20/20 interview, the style squad of the Bravo Channel expose a little about themselves when one of the team berates a “straight” guy for using wire hangars. The dialog seemed almost to pay homage to the child abuse scene in Mommy Dearest.
The team panders to the basest of humor levels in their audience, laughing indignantly as they rebuke and guffaw over the inadequacies of their “project.” Using flippant comments as the rule, the Fab Five exploit an individual’s image concerns and personal insecurities for laughs as they “makeover” this person.
Thankfully, God transforms with love and never shame. He calls us to a holy standard knowing that the only way we can make it is by His tender mercy.
The Fab Five would remake the world into their “what’s ‘in’ this season” image.
The Lord liberates the world to bear His Image as unique individuals, whereas the product of Queer Eye is consumer-based and discarded at the end of the day.
What this team is doing is nothing new. Men and women have tried to remake others into their own definitions for a long time. Even we in the church should consider repentance for re-modeling others into our image instead of guiding them to the Lord and His teachings. The Lord wants to reshape all our lives to His original intent that fulfills His holy design and liberates us to sing our unique song for all eternity.
As the world learns how self-identified “gay” men would remake society into their image, those of us who are believers must seek for ourselves and encourage others to allow God to liberate us into His image — an image that bypasses the exterior and satiates the heart.
A person liberated into God’s image will reflect Him well whether dressed in Versace or Wrangler’s.
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Adapted from a column by Randy Thomas, communications director for Exodus International.
