Girl, Wash Your Face {A Book Review}

 Now that I have read the book myself, I can see why Girl, Wash Your Face is all the rage these days: who doesn't want to be told that nothing stands between you and success? Who doesn't want to be told that you're in control and doing everything right? Who doesn't want to be told that everything for a "better you" lies within you?

Yes, in Girl, Wash Your Face, Rachel Hollis tells her readers all of this and more with her sometimes almost-too-honest style of writing. (Which, by the way, is another significant appeal of the book.)

Sure, every so often there are bits of truth that a person might find helpful. Bits such as the truth that we don't have to live up to the expectations of those around us. Or that our happiness isn't found in our surroundings. Or that we are all different, so we all have different strengths and weaknesses and should, consequently, embrace each other's differences. Not only that, but we aren't here on this earth by accident.  

Yes, on their own, these statements are true.   

However, as Hollis outlines twenty different lies that she believed at one point or another in her life, and argues that we all tend to also believe, I would argue that she weaves in several of her own lies that shape a worldview that directly squares off with Scripture. 

Here are the underlying problems that I see in Girl, Wash Your Face :

1.  She promotes a different gospel  

Hollis opens her book with a one-sentence premise: "You, and only you, are responsible for who you become and how happy you are." (page xi) 

She then closes her book with a slight variation of her opening premise: "Only you have the power to change your life." (page 211)  

Did you catch the subtle worldview that flies in the face of the very message of the Gospel? 

In saying that we have the power to become a better person and that we are able to bring about change, Hollis ignores the very fact that we are sinners, in desperate need of a Savior. 

In fact, Scripture teaches that not only are we sinners, but we're sinners to the very core of our being, with not even an ounce of "goodness" that would allow us to seek after God, much less bring about any of the change in our lives that Hollis discusses. 

In Romans, Paul doesn't beat around the bush when he tells us just how bad we really are: 

"...There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17 And the way of peace have they not known: 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes." (Romans 3:10b-18)

Hollis' claims are empty promises, for she fails to even lead her readers to the starting block for any kind of change: the Gospel.

True change starts with believing the Gospel message of salvation--the message that Christ died, was buried, and rose again the third day, so that we might have eternal life. Ephesians 1:19-20 reminds us of "the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places..."  

Yes, it is in salvation and salvation alone that we find power for any form of change, for God makes the declared-righteous sinner a totally new creatures and gives him the power to live a life that is righteous and holy, pleasing to Him. 

God gives us new life, not just a "better version of [ourselves.]" as Hollis calls it (page xiii).  

This is truly transforming power. 

2. She believes in a different god than I do 

Hollis so adamantly believes that only you are in charge of your life that she expands on what what exactly she means:

 "...I believe that my Creator is the strength by which I achieve anything. But God, your partner, your mama, and your best friends--none of them can make you into something (good or bad) without your help." (page 212, emphasis mine)

Whoa. Wait just a minute! God can't do anything unless I help him?

This just went from "Ok, this book may have some practical tips on helping me enjoy life more and be more successful and less stressed, etc., etc." to "God isn't who He has declared Himself to be!"  

Acts 17: 24-28 is a beautiful statement concerning God as Creator of all things, sovereign (in charge) over all things, and the One on whom we depend for our very life: 

24 "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; 26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: 28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring."

If Hollis believes that the god she worships does not control each and every minuscule aspect of her life down to the very breath that she breathes and that he needs her help in order to accomplish his purposes in her life, she does not worship my God and the God of the Bible. 

3. She contradicts the great commandment    

Woven throughout the entire book is the suggestion that life is all about me: my dreams, my joy and satisfaction in life, my success as a mom/wife/career woman/writer. Undoubtedly there are more areas that could be listed. 

Essentially, Hollis argues that life is about loving myself and nothing should stand in the way of me becoming who I want to be. 

But Christ commands us to "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." (Matthew 22:37-39)

Not only that, but Scripture commands us to love our enemies and give of ourselves for them (Matthew 5:44). 

We are to consider each other as more important than ourselves (Philippians 2:1-4); husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the Church (Ephesians 5:25), but that command to love as Christ loves the Church extends to the rest of us as well (Ephesians 5:2). 

Jesus talked about our love for each other being a sign of our love for Him (John 13:34-35).

Finally, in the book of 1 John, the Apostle John looks at the subject of love from practically every possible angle: God's love as the source for our love for others, God's love being perfected in the believer, the dangers of loving the world, love for each other as a sign of having passed from death into life, love as it is demonstrated by our actions and our care for those in need, love leaving no room for fear, and finally, that a genuine love for God produces obedience. 

Nowhere in any of these passages do we find a command to love ourselves and look out for our own needs; We already love ourselves too much the way it is. Our sin nature is all about loving ourselves, our needs, our wants, our desires, our reputation. We do not need someone to tell us that we need to love ourselves more. 

Rather, we need reminded, day in and day out, that we are called to love God and to love each other. We need His enabling grace to produce His divine love in us so that we might love others with the same love that sent Jesus to the cross for our sin. We need God to make His love flow through us, because we definitely cannot produce it on our own!

4. She ignores the reality of sin-produced guilt 

Perhaps this point is a bit more nuanced  than my previous points, but I believe it is an important supposition that flows from the message of her book and one that we need to consider: If I believe that life is all about affirming me, my personal potential, and my calling in life, it is only natural, then, when I do feel the slightest twinge of uncertainty, doubt, and/or guilt, that I tell myself I'm doing ok: the guilt I'm feeling is unmerited and is the result of others imposing their unwarranted expectations on me. I don't have to 'perform' in order to be accepted.

And it is true: as sons of God, accepted in the Beloved, we don't have to perform to maintain God's approval of us. 

However, in order to maintain a balanced view of Scripture's teachings, we must also affirm that there are definitely times when, even as His beloved children, we displease the Father and grieve Him with our sin.

And so I believe it is important to consider the opposite side of the equation: not all guilt is false or "non-legit". 

In other words, sometimes we feel guilty because we are guilty. Yes, we feel guilty because we did something wrong and sinned, and for this reason, our conscience is pricking us. And as believers, the Holy Spirit is doing His job of convicting us of our sin. 

I agree that there are times when we do experience "false guilt," but I daresay that we tend to jump to that option much too quickly and way too often. We dismiss it as "false guilt" and fail to consider whether or not this guilt could be pointing towards an area of sin in our lives that needs repented of. 

True guilt and conviction of sin is a bitter-sweet morsel for the believer to swallow: realizing that we're wrong and need to confess and repent before God (and maybe also before others) is hard. Really hard.

However, for the believer, conviction of sin is sweet because it is a sign of God's enduring and faithful love towards His children. Hebrews 12:5-6 speaks incredible words of comfort: "And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." 

We are to rejoice that God is treating us as His children by not leaving us to our own devices as we seek the temporary pleasures of sin when He has made available to us the eternal joy of drinking from Living Waters that will quench our spiritual thirst. What a loving and gracious Father we have.

And so, with just over 2,200 words now, I must tie up this book review and stop pushing my luck that you will keep reading. (If you have even made it this far!)

My concluding thought on Girl, Wash Your Face: please  be discerning if you read Girl, Wash Your Face. The truths that you might glean from it are scarce, while the abundant half-truths and illusive worldview proposed are subtle and consequently, dangerous: they sound so good but directly contradict Scripture. Let us be as the Bereans and search the Scriptures to see whether these things be so!