Be authentic. Live out a very real honest life before God and before people.
We are not perfect and should not try and project an image of that. If we are trying to manage the way people view us with an appearance of a life that looks like we have it all together, trying to look like we are popular and have the right friends, say the right things and even own the right stuff, then we are not helping anybody.
In fact, we do more harm. It is religious, inauthentic and fake. It turns people off Jesus and off church. It is one reason so many people are disillusioned with leadership and the church. In the end, God will not bless that.
God blesses the original honest you. King David is a great example. His record of great triumphs, his love for God, his tragic mistakes, his overcoming sin and fear, the times when he lacked faith and how he learned to run to God for everything is recorded for us in the Psalms. He lived honestly before God and he learned to do that long before he became king over Israel. And God blessed Him.
David didn’t seek after His own honor. He didn’t try and build his own reputation. He didn’t seek his own promotion or opportunity. He didn’t manipulate to get his way. He didn’t try to project an image of perfection. He was just simply and honestly himself and He loved God more than anything. He showed himself faithful and fiercely loyal–even in obscurity. It enabled him to keep his heart clean before God and live out an authentic honest life. And when he became king, he ruled in Israel with God’s blessing and favor and provision over his life, right up to the day he died.
Being authentic frees you to be you. It frees you to truly love God from the center of who you are. Unconcerned with managing how others see you, you know it’s how God sees you that matters. Unconcerned with popularity or position in life, not trying to get your own way, you will be happy and genuinely carefree in the loving hands of a God who will bless you. You can trust Him more than ever with your life and His purposes for your life.
Be you. Be authentic.
