Who Are You, Really?

 April 10, 2024

Wednesday

Answer this question for yourself alone. I am not taking a survey and truthfully, I don't want to hear the confessions of people who might answer this in a negative way. Would you assassinate someone for $10 million if you knew there was absolutely no way that you could get caught?

This is where we need to understand that right and wrong is not determined by who knows what you have done. Right and wrong is still right or wrong no matter who knows. We cannot live like we know God, have trusted in Jesus and have the Holy Spirit living within us when our actions are determined by who is watching.

This is just as true on the positive side as it is on the negative. If our actions of acting friendly, generous, benevolent, kind or serving are done simply because we know others are watching and we want to be praised for our actions, they are not from our hearts and reveal who we are. The Holy Spirit certainly will never lead us to act so that others will praise us. We become hypocrites with two faces. One face is who we are and never show. The other face is the image we want to project and show when others are watching. These are the people who are nice and kind at church but mean as snakes the rest of the week. (Sometimes they are mean as snakes at church when they think they will get praised for their meanness.)

One of the things that bothered me was how I acted at church opposed to how I acted when I rode my bicycle home. On the bicycle I was yelling at those who showed me no courtesy or nearly hit me and at church I was telling everyone they needed to love others in a forgiving way. I had to stop before riding the bike to remind myself who I truly was. I had to remind myself that I was carrying the Holy Spirit with me. I had to remind myself to shut my mouth.

That doesn't mean that I have overcome this problem completely. I am renewing my mind from the conforming it has already accepted.  Unfortunately, my flesh is still very active when I give it a chance. Yet, hypocrisy cannot be my path. I should not act to attain the accolades of people or avoid their condemnation simply because someone is watching.

Regretfully, I must admit, the way that I act when I fail to notice who is watching is who I really am. That is a picture that must change.

So, if you answered the question I posed in a negative way, you too have some work to do. It is time we all acknowledge how we act, repent of the negative things and be renewed to who we really are.

Matthew 23:5–7 (NASB 2020) ⁵ And they do all their deeds to be noticed by other people; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. ⁶ And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the seats of honor in the synagogues, ⁷ and personal greetings in the marketplaces, and being called Rabbi by the people.