Are you a fan of something? Maybe not even just a fan, but like a fangirl? 

Do you fangirl over the actor who starred in that new movie? Do you find yourself squealing when that singer you are into right now posts a new photo on their social media? Maybe you really really like that soccer player for the LA Galaxy and just have to watch all their games. Maybe you even have a Twitter dedicated to your favorites? 

If that is you, don’t be ashamed! It’s totally normal to do those things and they aren’t inherently bad, but it can become bad when we allow it to consume our lives and lead us down a path towards less than God-honoring content. 

Despite the fact that a lot of the things we fangirl over bring us joy, we must be aware that they can also be a danger to our spiritual lives if we consume too much. 

So, what does it look like to be a fangirl to the glory of God? 

It sounds a little funny to put it that way, but the gospel changes everything and everything includes your fangirl tendencies.  Before getting any farther, let’s stop and explore the dictionaries definition of a fangirl: “to (of a female fan) behave in an obsessive or over excited way.”

If you took that definition to your fangirl habits, what does that look like for you? Do you behave obsessively towards something you are a fangirl over? Do you get over excited when you see them? Do you feel like you can’t live without [insert the thing/person that you are a fan of] [it/them]? If you don’t get your daily dose of fangirl content, do you feel depressed or even anxious? 

If any of the above are you, I’d say you have a fangirl problem. 

“But Bekah,” you may be asking, “I thought you just said being a fangirl isn’t bad?” 

It’s not. I stand wholly by that statement as a K-pop and K-drama fangirl myself, but I also stand by the second part of that statement where I said that we can’t let it consume our lives to the point that it’s all we think about, talk about, dream about, etc. and God takes sort of a backseat role in our lives. 

So, where do we draw the line as Roses of the King? Where are our boundaries within our fangirling? Here are four areas you should be looking at if you notice that you have a fangirl problem: 

Time 

I started getting into K-pop because I found that it was a refreshing break from the mainstream and oftentimes raunchy music that most of my peers listened to as it was wholesome, cute, and a lot of the songs had good messages. Also, since Korea is pretty strict on what type of language can be in a song, a majority of them are clean too. It made me happy because it was unique, a lot of people I know aren’t that into it, and it felt like something I could call my own. Slowly but surely, my love for K-pop went from casual observer to blatant fangirl as I immersed myself in the online community, made video edits of my faves, laughed over memes in my group chats on Twitter, wrote fanfics, and consumed the copious amount of content that comes with being a K-pop fan. 

However, despite the fact that it brought me so much joy and happiness, it also hindered my relationship with God because I was putting too much time into my fangirling and less and less with God. It was in this moment that I realized my life was no longer for God, but for my K-pop idols. 

Take a moment today and write out exactly how your fangirl tendencies affect your daily life from the moment you get up and when you go to sleep, and see what steps you need to take to have less of the world and more of God.

Focus 

The things of this world come and go. That actor you like right now will retire, the group you listen to will disband and go on to live their own lives, that YouTuber you admire will eventually quit and move onto something else as several have already done this year. Upon noting this, I gently urge you to realize that the things of this earth are momentary and are not forever. What brings us joy now won’t ten years down the road, and when that happens…what will you do? What is forever, though, is Jesus. Jesus will never retire, never disband, and never stop making those beautiful sunsets you admire. 

He is here for the long haul, but are we? 

What is your heart centered towards right now? Is Jesus the focus of your heart or something else? The Bible says, “Where your treasure is, your heart will be also.” So, where is your treasure? Is it Jesus or is it [enter name of thing you fangirl over]? If it is the latter, a heart check-up is in order.

Money

I’ve spent over $120 dollars on albums and merch from my favorite group this year. $120 dollars. $120 dollars. That is actually less than some of my fellow fangirls who have spent thousands (yes, I said thousands) on them, and even now I cringe looking at that number. At the moment, it brought me great happiness knowing that I was supporting my favs by buying the things they put out and it made me feel more involved with my online community, but I can’t help but wonder where God could have used that money instead. 

Buying merch and supporting your favorites isn’t bad, but it is bad when you don’t have enough left over to give back to God or use towards something that could advance His Kingdom. 

Where do you invest your money? Now ask yourself, could that money have been used to support a ministry? 

Now What? 

Everyone is on their own journey when it comes to matters like this, and God works differently in everyone but I hope that this article was an encouragement to have fun but to also be self-aware and realize when your fun begins to turn into idolatry and something dangerous to your spiritual well-being. It takes time to make changes, and I don’t expect you to cut yourself off from the things you love and fangirl over cold turkey. 

Pray, ask for wisdom on how God can use your interest for His glory, and ultimately, point others back to Him. Also, before I go, I would like to remind you to pray for the people you fangirl over. The celebrities we like are humans too, weak and in need of God just as much or even more than we do. Imagine how many people they could influence if they too became a follower of Jesus? 

So with that, I encourage you to fangirl to your heart’s content, but be cautious and keep an eye on when it becomes to much and when you need to draw a line in the sand.