Authenticity
By Tom Snyder
Authenticity. What does this word mean to me?
What does it mean to you? Is it posting unfiltered selfies while drinking green smoothies? Is it trying to look your best while not letting other people see your true mess.
#blessed
Does authenticity mean that you just do whatever you want to do? That you try something out, but if it gets hard, you don’t follow through?
My authentic self tells me not to try. It tells me that I’m safer on the ground than attempting to fly.
So, realistically, authenticity might just mean mediocrity.
Jesus said “come, follow me. And I will show you a life lived abundantly.” He said my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
There’s forces in the world that will try to put out your light, that try to block out my love for you and turn the day into night.
Jesus knows my hurt, he knows my pain. He knows that I’ve screwed up and he still calls my name. He’s seen the ugliness in my soul and pursues me all the same.
It’s a strange exchange, that Jesus would trade his righteousness to cause a change, in my heart.
The pressure to look out for myself and do what’s best for me, is justifiable so I can be who I want to be. Cause that should be my goal, right?
To be my “authentic self” I’m told is the best thing I can do, but when sin is the center of my self, how can that be true?
The bible says I do the things I don’t want to, and the things I want, I don’t do.
There’s a battle going on inside my heart. A war between the light and the dark.
A fight between my authenticity and the love that Jesus has for me.
I don’t want to be “authentic”, because to be real, I’m the worst. Instead, I desire to become Jesus and to put love first.
Tom Snyder 