OUR FAKE SELVES
A thriller story is one where nobody can guess the ending and the characters turn out to be fake and nothing like we considered them to be. Double agents, double crossing, and double identities are the staple of bestselling movies and novels. However, when we take step back and consider our lives, it should not surprise us to find that we are no different. Most people are not what they seem to be and more interestingly we are not who we think we are.
A person who is prone to anger is more likely a fearful person than an aggressive person. A person who aggressively seeks pleasure might in fact be looking for meaningfulness in life rather than enjoyment. A person who pours out time and money for charity might in fact be a person who does so to feed his pride rather than express compassion. There is an element of fakeness in each one of us.
The primary reason for deception is failing to recognize that our spirits are more important than our bodies. A human being is a physical-spiritual being, and the spiritual component is more important because it does not perish unlike our bodies. Deception begins with saying that our body is all that is or by stating that there is a spirit within us, rather than accurately saying that we have a transient body wrapped around our spirits.
So even if we understand our spiritual-physical nature in the right context, how do we find who we truly are? We need to allow true light to shine into our lives and then see ourselves in that illumination. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12). In this world that appears to be dominated by the physical and the visible, if the spiritual is in fact the dominant realm, we need the One who rules both the physical and spiritual to show us the way and that is what Jesus does.
Deception is further removed when we learn to live and gauge ourselves not by the worldly standard but by the eternal standard taught by the Word of God in the Bible. James 1:22 reminds us, “whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”
Very few are able to practice that because the pressure to conform to the standards of this world and value what it values supersedes the urge to seek the light and live by the light.
Consequently, we assume fake identities and as life evolves, we become comfortable with our fake selves making it incrementally difficult for light to seep in.
