A couple of weeks ago, I talked about how being ingenuine – creating a false mask for yourself, for example – is just a culturally-acceptable lie. You’re lying to yourself that you can be a specific kind of person who you are not. You’re lying to the people around you that you’re the type of person you think they want to see or associate with. And you’re basically telling God, “You didn’t make me right, so I’m going to pretend to be something else.”
God hates lying (Zechariah 8:16-17, Psalm 5:6, Proverbs 12:22, etc.). It was one of Jesus’ issues with the Pharisees. Lying is not something you want to play with.
Being genuine doesn’t mean being a flat and uninteresting personality. The more I interact with people of various cultures and backgrounds, the more I find that most people are multi-faceted. They like to hike, but they also like to cook. They are funny and can make people laugh, but they are also deep and can have in-depth conversations. They love Jesus and know His word, but they are also walking encyclopedias on the biology of apple trees. There’s nothing wrong with this. We’re made in the image of God, and as such, we’re not one-dimensional. We have interests, knowledge, abilities, histories, dreams, and more, and it’s highly unlikely that any of it will fit in a neat little box with your name on it.
Bringing out various parts of your personality, interests, skills, etc. is not putting on a mask – it’s not lying. You’re still being you. For example, people sometimes say that I’m “sweet” – which is true. But “sweet” doesn’t mean that I can’t hold onto the truth with an iron grip, give someone a what-for, or climb a mountain in the middle of a hailstorm (or, more accurately, climb down a mountain through the storm). They’re both me. I’m not faking it when I’m being kind to others or when a more passionate, tenacious side comes out.
The Bible tells us to act in certain ways – to love each other (John 13:34, Romans 12:10, etc.), to lead a quiet life (1 Thessalonians 4:11), comfort and edify each other (1 Thessalonians 5:11), be holy (1 Peter 1:16), rejoice in hope, patient in trouble, and constant in prayer (Romans 12:12), etc. We are even told to imitate God (Ephesians 5:1).
The key here is your heart. You can put on a mask that looks loving – plenty of people have done it before you. But if you let the love of God grow in your heart, you won’t just act loving, you’ll be loving. As you imitate Christ, the things He did shouldn’t just be something you can tack onto your personality. You’re being transformed into His image (2 Corinthians 3:18, Romans 12:2, etc.). As you are transformed, and as you imitate Him, you become more like Him in your heart. That’s the power of Christ!
So don’t be afraid of pulling out different parts of your personality as the situation dictates. You don’t have to be one-dimensional. Far from it! You’re made in the image of God, and He has given you different parts of your personality to be able to build up the people around you… even if it looks very different with different people!
