If there’s something I can do to live a better life, I want to do it. So, when statements about the importance of living authentically started coming up in conversations, I had to look into it.
I found a lot of information about the need for a person to be his or her authentic self. And plenty of advice on how to discover who we truly are. One online advisor says, “Authenticity illuminates the path forward to live the life you want.” Authenticity is explained as being true to our own personality, values, and spirit, regardless of the pressures we are under to act otherwise (www.mindtools.com).
Brene Brown says, “Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we are supposed to be and embracing who we actually are” (www.mindful.org).
That sounds like something worth considering, doesn’t it?
We are told that we were born our authentic selves and that society’s expectations force us to become someone other than who we really are.
But I have a problem: I don’t like my authentic self. I often struggle with selfishness. I have to fight against arrogance. As soon as I think I’ve gotten rid of a prideful attitude, there it is again!
I’m not happy when things don’t go my way. I like to do what I want to do, when I want to do it. Sometimes I judge people. Sometimes unwelcome thoughts burst into my mind. Sometimes I say things, foolish words, that I deeply regret. If the cashier at Walmart is crabby with me, my initial response usually isn’t one of compassion and kindness.
These attitudes are sinful. I hate seeing them in myself, and so does God.
The Bible says all men are born with this propensity for sin. It’s what theologians call our sin nature or our flesh, which is present from the moment of our conception (Psalm 51:5). We might not all struggle with the same sins, but we all struggle.
I know how the apostle Paul felt when he said, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh” (Romans 7:15-18).
According to Paul, being our authentic selves is not a good thing: “No one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:11-12).
Paul’s grief over his own sin is unmistakable: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Paul had no desire to embrace his authentic self; he looked forward to being rescued from it.
Jeremiah the prophet knew what Paul had later discovered, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
I know the passions of my flesh are against the things God desires. “They are in conflict with each other” (Galatians 5:17). So, instead of being true to my authentic self, I strive, with the supernatural assistance of the Holy Spirit, to live up to the new creation that I am in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). And I rejoice in the God who saves. He knows my weaknesses. He remembers that we are dust. He is quick to forgive all who come to him in repentance and faith, believing in the One who died in our place.
