get real

i love how roy's words are not confined to the walls of the church. the most important part of his message--for me anyway--takes place after i leave. today was all about image. how our society is so obsorbed in how people "see" us that we forget to examine who we really are. this topic is one of heavy discussion around shoal creek. i guess when you try to create an authentic community true authenticity has to be examined.

really, who is authentic? what is authenticity? what would it look like if everyone were authentic? in a day and age where image is everything and truth is nothing does authenticity even have a place? it seems to me that literally everything i do and say in a day's time is motivated by some kind of self protective measure. i'm continually trying to make someone think i am smart, rich, tough, or happy. when i am in fact of average intellegence, broke, weak, and having a crappy day. i don't hide my humanity in overly obvious ways of course. i manage to do it in ways that i barely notice myself.

why in the world do we go to such lengths to make people think a certain way about us? what is it that drives us humans to act like someone so different from who we are? and as a christian, does that mean that Christ is not enough for me? the fact that i work so hard to get people's approval even though Christ already loves me "just as i am" seems like a slap in the face. what if i no longer labored to appear any different than who i am? how different would my life be if i truely loosed the chains of self protection and walked upright in the freedom that Christ already paid for?
this kind of behavior is so like the behavior of our ancient reletives back in eden. except they hid themselves for good reason. we walk around with our costumes on for people we don't know. i'm just rambling but i have a point don't i? i mean if Christ's harshest words of critisism were reserved for the high religious officials in his day then what would He have to say to me?

what would He say to me?