There is no independent, self-operating self in the universe, except the One who calls Himself the I AM {Exodus 3:14} and says, "I am the Lord and there is none else, there is no God beside Me {Isaiah 45:5}.
No Independent Self ~ Norman Grubb
It's something that was drilled into me from an early age. Don't try to put on airs for all the world to see. Just be yourself. People will see your authenticity and appreciate that. It's advice which has served me well over the years. Don't try to be someone you're not. Yet when I look back on the advice that has served me so well, I realize that I have been in error. For my thinking was based on the incorrect assumption that I am my own separate person. That I alone am responsible for what happens in my life. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have a good friend who has taken to using the phrase "Be Jesus." He's not very far off base in his thinking. Christianity has sold us the lie that man has been separated from God through his sin. To this I say, what about Jesus? For it is Jesus who is dispatched by the Father to be the propitiation for that sin of ours {First Epistle of John 2:2}. But this is only the tip of the iceberg in our understanding of who we truly are in the Father. Gone are the days where I believed that my life was my own. For Jesus has proclaimed that I now live my life in union with He and the Father {Johns Account 14:20}. There are those within the church who will counter that God cannot be amongst sin. Well, has not Jesus already given Himself for that sin? The apostle Paul speaks in his evangel that "Our old humanity was crucified together with Him, that the body of sin may be nullified" {Paul to the Romans 6:6}. Not only that, but the Christ "Died to sin once for all time" {Paul to the Romans 6:10}. Jesus IS our propitiation for our old sin nature. He HAS given Himself willingly for that which we were once condemned {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 5:21}. Sin no longer defines who I am. Through the sacrifice of Christ, I now live a life within the Fathers love.
So, what is it that I now think of when I hear that phrase, be yourself? Well, I think of how the Father will show Himself through me each and every day. After all, the likeness of God is who I truly am {Genesis 1:27}. How is it that I can be someone I've not been created to be? When Philip inquired of Jesus to "Show us the Father," Jesus was correct in His response. "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" {Johns Account 14:9}. He was also correct in His proclamation that "I and the Father, We are one" {Johns Account 10:30}. I can say with confidence that my life remains in God because it is the truth spoken in scripture. Therefore, I can no longer simply be myself, but the likeness of He in whom I now live. This is the essence of authenticity, that I would exemplify the Father in whom I live. Yet I can already hear the chorus of dissenting voices out there who will say "Wait, is it God who behaves wrongly?" To be fair, how we conduct ourselves has NO bearing on our true identity anymore than a misbehaving child is no longer their parents offspring. The reality is that we all too often succumb to the desires of our flesh. It is the flesh which is the container for the spirit of the Lord in which we now live {Paul to the Corinthians (1) 6:19-20}. This flesh vessel is from and has been created by God, and is not our own. Knowing this, it is our flesh which is also prone to the urges of the world around us. Yet this in no way denies the truth that we now live within the Father. What it does tell us is that we've at times accepted the desires of our own flesh over that of the Father. So it is that when I think of being myself, I trust in the knowledge that the Father is shown through me. If you see me, you've seen the Father.
Or are you not aware that your body is a temple of the holy spirit in you, which you have from God, and you are not your own? For you are bought with a price. By all means glorify God in your body.
Paul to the Corinthians (1) 6: 19-20, Concordant New Testament
~Scott~
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