In recent times, several words have faced some sort of public relations crisis. These words have lost their true meanings because they are ubiquitously used in business, marketing, magazines, and motivational podcasts. Everyone wants to be authentic even though most people that evangelize its virtues often don’t know what the word means.
Being authentic is more than just being honest – Stephen McAlphin
We live in a time where people are constantly doubting themselves, seeking to find true meaning to life and daily fighting for authenticity. While building meaningful relationships, we always want to surround ourselves with people that are kind, honest, trustworthy and predictable.
According to Merriam Webster dictionary, authenticity is defined as:
true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character. Here is my favourite definition: worthy of acceptance or belief as conforming to or based on fact. conforming to an original so as to reproduce essential features.
Today, I will focus on what I believe are the two most important pillars of authenticity; conformity and acceptance. Conformity is about standing in your truth while acceptance is about being accepted based on your truth. Looking at my life and the lives of others, I’ve come to the conclusion that acceptance has a great impact on conformity. In life, those we seek validations and acceptance from will often determine what we conform to.
Let’s take a look at what scripture says on this matter!
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. – Romans 12:2
Patterns are methodologies or procedures a man subscribes to in order to achieve an end result. There are godly and worldly patterns, both might arrive at the same destination but the routes are separate. Any pattern that is not currently endorsed by God is a worldly pattern regardless if God was its creator.
Scriptures reveal that we must endeavor not to be conformed to the pattern of this world. So, that means it’s possible to be a believer yet be conformed to certain worldly patterns. The good news is that we’re not left without a solution; the way out is for us to be transformed by the renewal of our minds. When this takes place, we begin to conform to the patterns of God’s Kingdom. By default, you and I will always be conformed to a pattern. So, what is conformity?
Conformity is defined as:
a state of consistency. It is also defined as compliance with standards, rules or laws; or behavior that follows the usual standards that are expected by a group or society.
Hebrews 10 verse 5 states “Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: ‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me”. Jesus recognized the pattern he shouldn’t adhere to because God did not delight in them. Although for others, sacrifices and offering were the norms of the day, however, he recognized that God already prepared a body for Him. That body was the means through which His assignment would be done. Although, God endorsed sacrifices and offerings, however, they were not applicable to Jesus. Likewise, God had prepared templates or standards for you and I through which we’re meant to fulfill our purpose. Have you had a revelation of what God had prepared for you ahead of time?
Verse 7 states “Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God— as is written about me in the Scriptures.’”. The standards or blueprints of our lives are enclosed in the volume of the book. That which God had written about us should be the standard we conform to. I’ve heard people say “be true to yourself”, but how can we do that when we have no clue about our identities?
John the baptist neither conformed to the identity of Elijah nor the prophets because he knew that he was the voice thundering in the wilderness. Although, his ministry was in the wilderness, however, those he was sent to went to meet him in the wilderness. We’ve not been called for everyone, so, if we conform to the wrong patterns, those we’ve truly been called to serve will not recognize us. Jesus lived his entire life on earth based on what God wrote about Him in the volume of His book. Do you know what God had written about you?
We live in a generation where identity theft is rampant, a time where it’s easier to be everybody else but yourself.
In Genesis 27, Jacob tricked Isaac by pretending to be Esau and for years he had an identity crisis until he eventually wrestled with God and was named Israel. He approached his blind father, Isaac, in the skin of a baby goat and Esau’s clothing in order to trick his father into blessing him. Although, Isaac blessed him, however, Isaac made a remarkable statement “The Voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau”.
Jacob conformed to the image of Esau because he wanted Esau’s blessings. In our attempts to fulfill our purposes or receive God’s promises, we must never compromise conformity. Never become or behave like Esau just because you want to receive Esau’s blessings. In this generation, we also hear the voice of Jacobs but feel the hands of Esau. The voice represents a message, we can never fake it. Regardless of the camouflage we put on, sensitive people will discern the discrepancies between our voices and how we make them feel.
For instance, do not emulate a popular preacher like TD Jakes because you want to experience similar blessings, impact and attract people. You might speak like TD Jakes but do you have the anointing of TD Jakes? For musicians, do not emulate another popular musician just because their style of singing is trending or just because it will give you more exposure, popularity, and likes even though it might be for the better good of God’s Kingdom. The Mona Lisa or Salvator Mundi paintings are expensive and loved by people because they are authentic. If counterfeits are made, many people might be deceived and might end up paying a lot for them but those that recognize the original will deem the counterfeits worthless. Trends come and go, but if identity is lost, all is lost. Never lose your identity in an attempt to produce outstanding results, it’s not worth it.
The images we are meant to conform to are the image of Christ and who God had predestined us to be. This should be our strive on a daily basis, that we might know him and in the process find ourselves. Therefore, being true to yourself isn’t about being comfortable and accepting who you and I are today, it’s about accepting who God predestined us to be, acknowledging that we are work in progress and daily working towards becoming those people. After Gideon was told that he was a man of valor, he began working towards becoming such man.
Authenticity is the foundation for trust. Nobody trusts a wanna-be.
Except the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it. The problem isn’t that the builders are incapable of building, surely, those people can build any structure. But the issue is, without God who is the chief architect and the chief builder, the structure they will build will not conform to the blueprint God has in mind. As a result, such a structure is useless because when the flood and whirlwind come, the structure will not stand. Hence, it would have been a wasted effort. It’s a vain thing to attempt to conform to any pattern or image without the help of God.
Acceptability is defined as:
capable or worthy of being admitted or approved. It is also defined as recognized as true.
From the beginning of time, men have always longed for and sought acceptance. In Genesis 4, Abel was murdered by his brother Cain because the former was accepted by God while the latter was rejected. The first battle between humanity was the battle of Priesthood for acceptance. In Luke 15, after the prodigal son squandered his inheritance, and decided to go back home, he didn’t care about his title or how he would rank in case his father accepted him as a servant. He just wanted to be accepted as somebody even if that meant being a servant to his father.
Those we seek acceptance from will determine what we conform to because they will accept us based on our conformity to their standards. We live in a fast world where you must establish your presence within seconds in order to gain people’s attention and conform to a captivating standard that results in approval.
If you live for people’s acceptance, you will die from their rejection – Lecrae
When our self worths are solely based on the number of likes we have on Instagram, retweets on Twitter, shares on Facebook, then we’ll always live for men’s approval. And as a result, we’ll end up compromising because the more we conform to people’s standards, the more our acceptance rate.
A single acceptance from God overrides a billion rejections from men.
Never trade authenticity for approval. We should only look unto God for acceptance because a single rejection from God overrides a billion acceptance from men. When our focus is on God alone, we will ensure that we daily conform to his standards by the renewal of our minds. Authenticity is the foundation for trust. Are you authentic enough for God to trust you?
In the tech, Pharmaceutical, automobile, and aeronautic industries, products must be thoroughly tested before putting them in the market. These products must first be conformed to the blueprints, then, they are endorsed and accepted. Any product that doesn’t conform to the original is regarded as a defect.
If an aeronautic company gives you a first-class ticket to board the most luxurious airplane ever built which by the way had never been thoroughly tested, will you board such? Okay, what if it’s an untested private jet? I believe the answer will be a “no”. Likewise, God doesn’t commission great works into our hands until we’ve been thoroughly tested and conformed to His image.
We must stay true to who God has called us to be. Following trends reveal a lack of authenticity. Don’t get me wrong, trends are great and we should be accustomed to what’s going on in every industry. But if our gifting, calling or ministry is built on top of another man’s foundation, charisma, eloquence, style or trend, then we have failed.
Each time we try to be someone else apart from who God predestined us to be, we’re like Jacob who became Esau in order to get Esau’s blessing. We don’t have to compromise our identities by conformity to other patterns. Whose image are you conforming to and who are you seeking acceptance from? We’re all seeking acceptance from someone, it’s either God or men. Under no circumstances must we even conform to the images or identities of our mentors else their limitations become ours and we lose our sense of identity.
Be true to who God had predestined you to be. Be the best version of yourself.