From weight-loss journeys to home renovations, the world loves a story of a life transformed. But none compare to what Jesus can do, says Chine McDonald
I recently watched the tell-all Netflix documentary Reality Check: Inside America’s next top model. In it, insiders, including supermodel Tyra Banks, talk about what went on behind the scenes of the iconic reality TV show that ran from 2003-18. Pretty much all the girls I knew watched ANTM which, for those unfamiliar, pits contestants against each other to land a top modelling contract. A generation of young women were influenced by its high fashion and rags-to-riches potential. Now, the new documentary, released years after ANTM ended, has revealed the lengths the show’s creators went to in order to transform the contestant’s physical appearances: extreme procedures, starvation and dental work were all encouraged to give women the ‘look’ the runway wanted.
Similar shows, such as The Swan, also subjected so-called ‘ugly ducklings’ to extreme weight loss and cosmetic surgery to make them look conventionally ‘beautiful’ – and left a trail of devastation in its wake.
Our society thinks that it has moved beyond ‘entertainment’ that puts people’s mental and physical health at risk and holds up an arbitrary ‘ideal’ beauty standard. But have we? We cannot get enough of before- and-after transformation stories. I’ll confess that I’m sometimes stopped in my doomscrolling by these images, accompanied by videos explaining how men and women achieved their perfect bodies: what they ate, how long it took and how their lives had changed.
Months ago, we were all told to hit the gym in order to achieve our beach bodies. Now it’s August, many will feel a sense of failure that the promised transformation never came; that there’s no before and after pictures they can post on social media.
Our fascination with transformation stories is a very human one: we are enthralled by possibility
Perhaps our fascination with transformation stories is a very human one: we are enthralled by possibility. This is most evident in the bodily transformations we are bombarded with in the media and online, but we also see it in the beauty of other before-and-after stories. Home renovation shows that take shabby, cluttered houses and turn them into aesthetically pleasing masterpieces; stories of people who have turned their lives around. Think of how we marvel at Nelson Mandela’s story of going from prisoner to president. We love the possibility that we can escape our circumstances, that another life – more beautiful, more hopeful, more successful – is possible. Beyond the social media metamorphoses lies a culture impatient for possibility.
The Christian story itself offers us possibility: that we can be born again, transformed from a before to an after. I once was lost, but now I’m found. We are familiar with testimonies of what people were like before they became followers of Christ, and how they are different now.
Worldly transformations are borne out of extreme efforts: whether strict eating regimes, exercise schedules, skincare routines or cosmetic surgery. But the Christian story offers a more profound truth: that this new creation is not achieved by our efforts, but made possible through the free gift of grace. As we read in 2 Corinthians 5:17-18: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God.”
In a world saturated with transformation stories, may we tell stories of how the good news of Christ invites us into a future that doesn’t rely on who we are, where we’ve come from or how much is in our bank accounts.
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