Should you be true to yourself? When I was a child, I remember hearing this pumped through movies, music, and even sentimental old folks giving me sagely wisdom when I told them what I wanted to be when I grew up. As a 20-something living in the American culture, there is a whole lot of fuss going around about being true to yourself, following your heart, and doing what “feels” best. So, here’s two reasons you should stop being true to yourself:
1.) You were made to be true to Another
You are wired as a human being to be true to Another in order to be true to yourself. Ultimately, you were made to forget about yourself, and to find your identity by losing it in something far greater than yourself. This is how you were made; this is how you were designed. Why would someone think that homosexuality is wrong, or that it is a good thing to stay pure before they are married, or to not plan on getting slammed this Friday at the nearest party? Because they don’t buy the idea that their fundamental priority should be being true to their self. Rather, the ultimate aim and goal is to be true to Another, and find satisfaction in Him.
2.) You were made for transformation, not stagnation
All humans are born as broken, dead beings in a shattered, graveyard world. The Bible teaches that humans are born thinking, acting, and feeling in wrong and sinful ways. Our fundamental disposition coming into the world is incredibly flawed. The Bible presents an idea of humanity as being in need of not stagnation, but transformation; not continuing in the old, but putting on the new; not in rejoicing in evil, but turning from it. Human beings can change, not by self-help, do-it-yourself improvement plans, but by supernatural repentance and faith in Jesus, who calls all humans everywhere to turn from being true to their self to be true to him.
So, stop being true to yourself. You will never find satisfaction in appeasing all of the titillating inclinations of your mind and body. Instead, turn from your sins and put your trust in Jesus. Find your identity outside of yourself. Lose your life, and you will find it in Him.
“Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in” C.S. Lewis
Spencer Harmon
Unspoken 