Authentic Living
What does it mean to be authentic?
When you check with Webster, definition 3 is the one we think of most: 3: not false or imitation: real, actual <an authentic cockney accent>.1 I remember a specific time in high school, when a friend had gotten a great deal on a pair of Oakley brand sunglasses on a trip to Mexico. Imagine his disappointment when he looked more closely later, and discovered that the brand name was spelled “OKLEY.” He might have gotten a good deal, but the glasses were an imitation, not authentic.
Kierkegaard, the Existentialist philosopher, brought this term to bear upon the human being. The thrust of his idea was that if you truly want to live life right, you need to be able to resist the pressures that others (including nature) apply to you, and act according to the freedom of your mind and will.
This thought was also expressed in ancient times. According to Wikipedia “Secular and religious notions of authenticity have coexisted for centuries under different guises; perhaps the earliest account of authenticity that remains popular is Socrates' admonition that "the unexamined life is not worth living".”2
When I was an undergrad, this line of existential thought was expressed in the popular admonition to “Be real.” The point was that you didn’t need to cover up and hide behind false pretenses. If you were a guy who liked to knit, and also loved football, great. Admit it with confidence. Be yourself, and if the world doesn’t like it, tough.
The problem with all of this authenticity is that it fails the sniff-test of scripture. God’s word tells us that “The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable —who can understand it?”3 and, “For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies.”4
There are two truths here that are worth unpacking. The first is that we don’t even know ourselves, the way that God knows us. The second is that if we were to pursue our “authentic selves” it would be a quick death spiral into the depths of depravity, and civilization would end in moments.
The cure is found in scripture as well. When you hear and respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it is the first authentic thing you will ever do. The Holy Spirit awakens you to the fact that the heart is sinful above all else, and that the cure is found in the atoning, substitutionary death of Christ. In that moment, you are changed. Only after salvation can you begin pursuing the life that Kierkegaard recommended, without devastating results. In Christ, we strive to fight the pressures that our sinful nature applies to us, and pursue him, in our newly freed mind and will, which had previously been bound to our sinful nature.
And we look forward with hope to a day where we can live with true authenticity. When Christ returns, we will be caught up in the air, and we will be changed. Kierkegaard encouraged us to be authentic by “resisting the forces of nature.”
Christ will cause us to be authentic by giving us a new nature. We will live and glorify him for eternity in a way that is: “3: not false or imitation: real, actual.”1
1 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/authentic
2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authenticity_(philosophy) – Note: if you have reservations about the quality of the content on Wikipedia, read “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch. There is a short section that will forever change your perspective on encyclopedias, and the value of Wikipedia!
3 http://msb.to/Jr17:9
4 http://msb.to/Mt15:19
