I remember one of my last days working at Outback. A few oddly dressed women had come in with a single man. It did not take long for heads to turn and lips to murmur. The word "prostitutes" was suddenly in the air. In a generation that is so willing to give itself away in cheap ways, it still recognizes the irregularity of SELLING itself in cheap ways.
When I hear the word, I often think of dark street corners, fish nets, and flashy makeup. I think God might have a larger view of the word, though. The Bible mentions people who "prostituted" themselves to foreign idols, gods, etc. Though we may not sell our bodies, I genuinely believe that we are often guilty of prostituting our hearts and our identities in Christ.
One definition of prostitute is, "a person who willingly uses his or her talent or ability in abase and unworthy way, usually for money." How often do we try to sell ourselves to people? Rather than offering our hearts, thoughts, and friendship as a beautiful gift to a person, we wrap it all up in the most attractive packaging we can imagine, and then we start the bidding. We namedrop to make our value go up; we spout off our goals and achievements; we select only the best or funniest details to share, all in the hopes that somebody will buy into our marketing and deem us valuable.
How sad that we often do not accept the price already paid, the very blood of Jesus Christ. We twist our healthy, holy desire to be valued and so we try to sell ourselves.
A lot has led me to think about this recently. I think the saddest thing about it all is that, much like a prostitute uses what was meant for true love, a gift... we too use what was meant as a gift from God, and a gift to be shared with others... and we try to see how high we can get others to price it. Who you are is a gift from God, the embodiment of a piece of His heart... not an item on the shelf at the store, up for the first person to price it.
I have noticed a change in myself in the past year or so: I have gone from choosing friends based on who they seem to be, to choosing friends for who we are together. I am done with trying to sell myself. I have come to the decision that I will give the pieces of my heart with prayerful consideration, and not in a quest to win favor lest the very pieces God gave me be thus cheapened. And I will take how people act around me as a direct reflection of my consideration of their needs. Do people feel loved and cherished, or do I make them feel as though we are in the midst of a competition which they must win to keep my affection? I will place my confidence completely in the Lord, allowing me to note better the comfortableness of others, rather than myself. I will love rather than sell.
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