"Charm is deceptive,"Proverbs 31 tells us, "and beauty is fleeting."

And yet, centuries of Christian culture have bound female physical attractiveness and faithfulness to the gospel together. The latest trend in this vein, Kelsey Kramer McGinnis writes at CT, is the "Jesus glow-up."If you search it on Instagram or TikTok, you'll likely find a series of videos in which a creator shares pictures of herself before—images often featuring heavy makeup and edgy clothes—and then reveals the after—images typically characterized by lighter makeup, sweeter outfits, and softer lighting.

The idea, of course, is that belief in Jesus leads to a beautiful aesthetic. There's something innocent, or at least earnest, about some of this trend. Christians want to bear good fruit, and at times that may produce a physical change, especially if their prior habits included sleeplessness, substance use, or other behaviors that harmed their bodies. But, McGinnis points out, tying physical change to spiritual goodness can be a dangerous road.