August 22, 2021
IF YOU MEET THE AUTHENTIC MAN IN THE ROAD...:
Being 'Authentic' is More Than Just Being Honest (STEPHEN MCALPIN, AUGUST 4, 2021, Relevant)
A lot of things can be mistaken for authenticity: relativism ("whatever seems right to me has to be OK with everyone else"), social elitism ("only people with a dark past and tattoos belong"), and dedication to causes ("meet my cat, he's a rescue") are just a few examples.However, I think when we search the Scriptures for definition, we discover authenticity is much more than all that. One passage that sums it up well is Ephesians 4:22-24, in which believers are called, "to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."Thus, authenticity in the Church is the quality of our exposure of brokenness and adornment in God's grace. An authentic person is one who is both privately and publicly putting off the old self and, by God's grace, putting on the renewed self.
Note that this definition of authenticity is the opposite of the common meaning. It is to strive to be, for moral reasons, that which one is not naturally. Authenticity is, thereby, inauthentic.
Posted by Orrin Judd at August 22, 2021 1:06 PM