Blending vs. Standing Out

The world gives us two different messages simultaneously, portrayed in our faces in different ways every day.
Some encourage us to blend in:

Others, to stand out: 

Ultimately, neither message comes from the root of any basis of Truth, but only the allure of temporary satisfaction in being accepted– for either one of two opposite behaviours: blending in, or standing out.
The issue in both of these worldly methods is the same: they are aimed in exalting oneself, focusing on oneself, and living for oneself. 

 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. PHIL 3:8-10

I remember, in middle school, wanting my own uniqueness to shine so badly. I thought trends were dumb. I wanted to be different, to stand out from the crowd. So, in seventh grade, I would wear my dance costumes to school– right down to the candy man striped dress from a tap dance. Yuuuppp.
A few years later, I started to care a lot more what people thought of the way I looked and dressed. So I changed my whole wardrobe, wearing what was in style, rather than what I felt comfortable in a lot of the time.
I definitely personally preferred those clothes. I hadn’t even liked the “style” I had been trying to pull off in middle school, but rather wearing those clothes was all about standing out.
Still, for a while in high school, I could say I wore what I wore so that I would fit in.
I enjoy clothes, and have a passion for fashion. I like getting dressed up, and I love coordinating outfits and my wardrobe. But no longer that I would be seen, but simply as a hobby, and out of care for myself.
The more I look to Christ, knowing that HE is my all in all, the more I know that I don’t want to blend in this world… or stand out in this world… I want to fade into the background, Jesus to be this whole world, and know that it’s when I’m found in Him that my life is more than dust. 

He that finds his life shall lose it: and he that loses his life for my sake shall find it.
Matthew 10:39