Where are the wise, older saints? she asked me as we visited, the pair of us sipping coffee and bearing each other’s burdens.
We are longtime friends, nearing our mid-fifties, and devastated by the stream of precious women waltzing away from Christianity, building sandcastles out of fool’s gold, falling for the promises of this world, as the crashing tide rushes in and levels.
The lack of mature Christian women willing to gently come alongside and equip younger women with the glorious truths of the Bible is astounding.
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A young Christian woman (one of many, it seems) has built an empire on social media. Her TikTok platform promotes non-toxic living— from cleaning products to makeup to clothing to furniture to food. Extravagant oils, organic meats, and cost-prohibitive protein powders are highly esteemed, with guilt-inducing videos pleading with women to replace all of their toxic furniture, clothing, bedding—pronto! pronto!—and on and on it goes. Hundreds of videos, thousands of hours spent heralding the duty of non-toxic shopping, alongside plenty of paid endorsements.
This aggressive push is carbon dioxide — a poison quietly seeping into Christendom, invisible and deadly. Somehow, this level of holistic living has been tied to Christianity while mentioning nothing about the toxicity of personal sin, the need for repentance, or the joy of denying ourselves and following Jesus straight out of our cushy comfort zones.
While I did not spend much time lingering on these videos, it was long enough to feel the cultish vibe that has become a staple for many younger (and older) Christian women. The whole premise is this: If you strive to live an outwardly clean life (eliminating all synthetics, plastics, upholstered furniture, drugstore makeup, and canned goods), you will experience joy, peace, freedom, and good health.
At first blush, it might seem difficult to argue, because are not our bodies a living temple of the Lord? Isn’t it smart to care for our physical selves and our family’s environment?
The wisest thing we may do is to listen to Jesus from Matthew 6:25-34:
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
What would happen if we took Jesus at his word?
As an older woman, one who has lived through many trends that swell then fade, and one who has experienced the steadfastness of God, I plead with women to stop worrying, stop obsessing, stop Tiktoking, and think.
If we spend copious amounts of time poring over food and detergent labels, diving into the seed oil debate, and paying too much money to live outwardly non-toxic lives, do we imagine we will magically add one moment to our existence? Have we tricked ourselves into believing that we are the sovereign ones?
Jesus commands his children not to worry about food, drink, and clothing.
Why?
Because it pulls our gaze and our affections away from seeking the kingdom of God.
And anything that pulls our hearts and our trust away from him is an idol.
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Listen, I get it. If I choose to feast upon ice cream, cookies, and potato chips every day, and perpetually park it on the sofa, refusing to move my body, I will feel crummy, have low energy, and struggle to cheerfully complete the tasks God has entrusted to me. It is wise to give thoughtful consideration to nutrition and exercise.
It is also wise to not to make an idol of such things.
On the other hand, if I hop aboard this frenzied, non-toxic bandwagon, I will swiftly become a self-absorbed woman. I will likely succumb to fear as I trust in labels rather than God, feast upon social media crazes rather than Scripture, and capitulate to the world’s perpetually changing standards, overspending on exorbitant, non-toxic food, clothing, makeup, furniture, and cleaning supplies while soothing myself by categorizing my choices as wise and healthy rather than obsessive and fear-driven.
The insanity of this aggressive movement has become normalized, and I believe it will take mature, Christian women to boldly help steer women right back to the Bible, which is the healthiest place to be.
So I ask:
What if we start helping each other trust God and live simply, within our means, growing in generosity toward others instead of buying more and more non-toxic things for ourselves? What if we kept our furniture and bedding and instead increased our giving to God through our tithes and offerings at our local church, and planned to fund more missionaries?
This is non-toxic living at its finest: Seek first the kingdom of God.
Something to consider.
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This obsessive non-toxic business is no tempest in a teacup, I assure you, but rather a serious swerve away from reasonable thinking. Quite different from old-fashioned remedies, like gargling warm salt water to ease a sore throat, sipping hot tea with a spritz of lemon and swirl of honey to chase away a cough, or sipping bone broth to help recover from the flu.
Here is an example from a comment I pulled from a crunchy website:
The biggest concern I had while watching was when you stated your rug is wool and your chairs are linen. I’m not sure if this is something to be concerned about, but the Bible warns not to wear wool and linen together. There have been studies done on the frequency of fabrics and both wool and linen have super high frequencies, but they cancel each other out when they touch or someone is touching both at the same time. This creates a frequency of zero and can be harmful to our bodies.
Is anyone else alarmed by such madness?
I searched for articles pertaining to Christians who have expressed even a mild concern over this non-toxic lifestyle craze, but alas, my search turned up little. I did, however, uncover a refreshing article from 2024, and this portion I especially appreciate:
The Bible does not promise that our outer man (body and brain) will be healthy. Instead, we know as Christians that we will encounter various trials and hardships in our life on earth (John 16:33). There is a certain false allure that comes with natural health because it puts the patient in the driver’s seat, and they often stop at nothing to find the next best remedy or cure. However, just like anything else, seeking health and bodily wellbeing can become an idol in the heart of the one pursuing it (1 Timothy 4:8). Natural health can deceive us into thinking that we are choosing the better way, the purer, or the one that God intended, but all the while it can serve to increase control and a drive toward making the healthy outcome the most important thing. This pursuit can quickly and deceitfully detract from a person’s focus on the health of their soul. We must remember that despite our efforts for bodily wellbeing that our health is ultimately in God’s hands, and He is sovereign over outcomes (Psalm 135:6; Proverbs 16:33). Thankfully, we can cling to the promise that as our outer man decays, our inner man is renewed daily (2 Corinthians 4:16).
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While there is no hard-and-fast line on how much non-toxic living is too much or how far is too far, I believe our actions always reveal our deepest affections. Older, godly women must rise in love and duty and come alongside younger sisters and speak truth to those who are drifting downstream, women engulfed by the tide of culture rather than Scripture.
May we exhibit the tenacity and courage needed to lead others into truth. And as older women, may we lead with tender humility, remembering those sad times when we ourselves fell prey to sin, blinded, building castles by the sea, with fool’s gold that crumbled.
I recognize that it is difficult to go against the grain of culture, and even harder still as this excessive, non-toxic obsession has seeped into the church, largely unchallenged.
Even so, I pray you find it impossible to meditate upon Christ’s words and come away conflicted: Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.
God knows what we need as we journey through life, this temporary home on our way to glory. He will provide our every need. Our job is to seek his kingdom, his righteousness, and his glory, and to call others to do the same.
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)
