Years ago, our oldest son’s teacher asked students to answer the question, “What makes you unique?” Staring at that blank sheet of paper I would have felt compelled to write a lengthy paragraph listing numerous distinctives, hoping to impress the teacher with my thoughts. In contrast, and despite turning in a nearly blank page, Jeremy got straight to the point. His short but authentic answer? My fingerprints.
J.B. and I discussed authenticity at breakfast while on vacation last week. In our first three days, we’d walked twenty-five miles—hiking rugged hilly trails, visiting a museum, descending 200 feet underground touring a cave, photographing amazing wildlife (many times unexpectedly close up,) and exploring Mount Rushmore. We could have spent our remaining days driving across wide stretches of the state to visit every possible tourist site. But the fourth morning we realized that besides hiking new trails, learning a bit of history, and viewing unique wildlife, we also valued and needed rest!
Some people need a vacation after their vacation, feeling compelled to engage in every possible activity or visit every famous attraction. Unspoken peer pressure from friends and colleagues drives some to vacation intensely. That might fit their values but not ours. Genuinely verbalizing what we saw needed to happen resulted in what others might judge a wasted vacation day. (We literally rested all day!)
I recently remembered the children’s story of The Emperor’s New Clothes. In it, some charlatans tricked a vain and gullible emperor into paying them vast sums of money to design and create an enviously beautiful new royal outfit. (They claimed the clothing would appear invisible to the stupid or incompetent.) In reality, they had no skill, no fabric, and certainly no love for the king. Yet they appealed to his ego. And because no one else wanted to appear stupid, all who watched the con artists at work spoke as if they could actually see the nonexistent cloth.
The day of the royal parade, everyone from the royal staff to the lowliest peasant oohed and ahhed over the king’s exquisite new apparel. It took a youngster to point out the obvious. Unlearned in political correctness this lad blurted out the truth: The king wore nothing at all! The child spoke the truth from his heart, without fear of retaliation.
That cautionary tale warns against letting pride and fear keep us from genuinely living by or declaring the truth. Unfortunately, preoccupation with others’ opinions often undermines what’s in our hearts, prompting inauthentic behavior.
Paul addressed such hypocrisy when confronting and correcting Peter (Galatians 2:11-13). Peter allowed fear of judgment from the legalistic Judaisers to dictate his actions. Desiring their approval, he suddenly stopped eating with the Gentile believers, whom he actually loved and cared for.
In this world of shifting values I find it particularly challenging to hold fast to the freedom I have in Christ. How about you? Do you budget and plan around your values or do you let others tell you how to spend your time and money? Take a personal inventory. Rather than catering to popular opinion, be true to what God’s put in your heart.
