Who is you-er than you?

Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. (Romans 12:9 NLT)

"Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!" (Dr. Seuss) How about you? Are you free to be the 'real you' with those around you? If not, it may be that you are surrounding yourself with others who feel being 'real' isn't important. I am blessed to be around 'real people' who encourage me to be the 'real me'. Why is this important? We cannot 'pretend' our way through life - we need to be exactly who we are, all the quirks and blessings of our personality traits blended together. Pretending is putting on airs - it is speaking or acting in a way that appears to present one 'front' but is masking another set of behaviors or attitudes that we don't want others to see. It is hard to live that way for long, though. We need to be free to live genuine lives - even when they are not as 'perfect' as some may like.

When we make the choice to hold tightly to what is good in our lives and reject the rest, we might find there are others who grow uncomfortable with that choice. They don't want to be genuine with you, and they aren't all that comfortable with you being your genuine self, either. They have come to like hiding behind the 'put together' image of themselves and expect that others will not challenge whatever image it is they are putting forth. The problem is that we don't really get to know who they are! We get to know a 'made up' image of a person, but not the 'factual' person. We don't get to know where they have been hurt, or where they have struggles with things. They keep us at an arms distance all the time, never wanting to reveal any more than is absolutely necessary for fear of judgment.

That is no way to live. God's view of us is the most genuine view of ourselves that we will ever face. He sees us with all our quirks and 'irregularities', but he doesn't turn his back on us. He embraces us! He shows us what it means to love - really love - even when it is difficult. I have found that individuals who are truly in love with Jesus, who have made him the Lord of their lives, aren't wearing those masks any longer. Why? They know God (the center of their universe) and they no longer live to please people - just him. They know they must live among people, but they don't fear their judgment any longer because God has a way of making them 'comfortable' in their own skin. They don't need to hide any longer. 

We may continue with our 'masked image' of our true selves for a while after saying 'yes' to Jesus, but that won't continue long when we truly begin to believe what he says about us. He tells us we are a new creation, made perfect in his image. We are strong because we have his strength. We are complete because his presence fills all the emptiness we once knew. We make knew choices because we realize that some of the old ones were made because we feared what others thought about us, how they saw us, or who they thought we should be. Jesus isn't going to settle for a 'pretend' relationship with us - he wants us to be nothing more than to be truer to who we are. Just sayin!