Recently, the subject of authenticity has been on my mind. By this I mean personal authenticity, or the quest to be our authentic selves. First, let's take a look at the definition of the word, courtesy of dictionary.com.
authentic: not false or copied; genuine; real
Personally, I consider myself to be much more authentic today than I have ever been before. I think I recognize this authenticity more and more as I see others who are far from authentic. You know the type, backstabbers, gossipers, those who preach one thing and live another, those who treat certain people with respect and others with disdain. As I continued down this list, I found myself becoming more important (in my own eyes, of course) and much more authentic than all of 'those' people. Just as I was settling in to give myself a nice little pat on the back for being so gosh darned authentic, God stopped me in my tracks as He silently whispered, "You are MY authentic self". Immediately, I was jolted back to my reality and realized that not only was I more authentic now than I had ever been, but I was also still every person I had just described in my overly inflated head. Wow, can you say conviction?
As I was wondering just exactly what it was within myself that had brought about this morphing into my authentic self, God revealed to me that it was nothing of my own doing, but everything that He was doing within me. It had little to do with my power and everything to do with His great power. With this bit of knowledge came a great deal of revelation. God began to point out all of the sin within me, even as He was praising me for striving more each and every day to become His authentic self. This was both humbling and somewhat unsettling. Here I was, feeling so great about myself for overcoming so much of the sin that used to hold me captive and define my entire being, only to have God stop me in my perfect little tracks to tell me that the work wasn't finished. I wasn't there yet, that the only perfect one is God Himself. I suppose I'm ok with that, and I praise Him for that. And I will continue to seek this authentic self in Him.
Psalm 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
God bless each and everyone one of you. Live in Him today!
Trudy
2 comments:
Hi Trudy! A little comment lovin from your SITSA who beat you to roll call today. LOVE your site. Beautiful and just what I needed to read...sometimes I wish God would pinch me when I give myself the credit instead of to Him, where it is ALWAYS due, but He is so loving, he brought me to your post instead :)
What a wonderfully written post Trudy. Such a great way to look at our lives, to see it as being authentic through Him...
Thank you so much for your beautiful words today.
Blessings.
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