Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.
Today we ask, who knows the real you? Your family? Colleagues? Friends? Do you know who you are?
My father was sometimes depressed, sometimes angry, often generous and friendly, and when impressed by God’s goodness, moved to tears.
It was his anger that stood out to me when I was young, and I believed that was the most real part of him. But as I grew wiser, I recognized him as a complex person. Angry and tender, depressed and cheerful, unreasonable and rational; it was all part of the real him.
Here’s what Jesus says about identity. “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it” (Mark 8:35, cf. Mat 16:25).
Consider Jesus’ prescription for finding the real you.
He warns if you try to save your life, you will lose it.
What is this life you might try to save? It’s the person you are: your likes and dislikes, your deep longings and strong desires, how you relate to yourself and others. Your secret thoughts and your public persona.
Jesus says the self you live with is not permanent. If you try to save it, you lose it. He doesn’t trade in self-help books that look for the authentic you deep inside. Jesus says self-help and self-preservation, trying to save your life, is the road to ruin.
It’s trouble ahead if you’re satisfied with yourself.
Your self will not satisfy you for long (Luke 6:25, The Message Bible).
Instead, Jesus says you find your true self by looking away from yourself. Self-analysis. Introspection. Dissection. None of them reveal the real you.
Look at me. I spent years trying to understand the deep longings of my heart, correcting wrong assumptions in the way I think, discerning and dissecting my roots in western civilization and in western barbarity, studying and pondering how Christian teaching and Christian legalism formed the person I am.
I did gain a measure of self-knowledge. But I remained a mystery to me. Not that way was the road to finding myself.
Jesus invites us on a different journey of discovery. He suggests we not cling to ourselves. Rather, open yourself to his influence, let him sort through your life and your personality. Some parts you lose as he burns away sin. Some parts grow stronger as he exercises you in his goodness. All parts become clearer as he shines his light on you.
Under Jesus’ care, you become your true self. True to him and true to you. In him you find your life. Not the life and the self you have loved and clung to and defended for many years. But a new life, a life with priorities shifted and perspectives changed and emotions reordered.
Let’s pray.
Our father, we read books on how to find our true self, but they leave us confused.
Today as we listen to Jesus, may he be a mirror to show us who we really are. A refiner, who burns away the falseness in what we think. A sculptor who chisels and shapes our character. A mentor who teaches us how to live.
O Father, walk with us as Jesus sorts us out. Help us lose what he asks us to lose. Help us gain what he wants us to gain. Help us become what he wants us to become. Help us find our true selves in him.
Amen.
I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.
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