Don't Be Yourself

A few  days ago I saw a young girl with a tattoo on the back of her shoulder that read "be yourself". I don't know why, but her tattoo got me thinking. If she got this phrase written on her body permanently it must be pretty important to her. Also, why is this phrase so popular in our society today? What does it mean to "be yourself"? Is it even good to "be yourself"?

With a quick Google search, it is easy to see that the phrases "be yourself" and the similar phrase, "be true to yourself" are very popular in America today. Being yourself has become a virtue of sorts, right up there with honesty, integrity, and loyalty.

I understand that many people who use these phrases do have good intentions. They don't want people to pretend to be something they are not. I get that. However, I believe the phrases "be yourself" and "be true to yourself" are destructive and encourage the exact opposite of true virtue.

To break this down we must first answer the question "what does it really mean to be yourself?" I believe that in many cases being yourself means that you embrace your true nature.

The next question is "what is our true nature?" Romans 3:10-12 tells us "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." In other words your true nature is not good. Your true nature is the opposite of good. As fallen humans, our hearts are tirelessly set on doing evil. I know this is true of myself and God's word says it is true of everyone.

After dissecting what it really means to "be yourself", we have to conclude that, based on God's word, being yourself is not good. Being yourself, in reality, is the opposite of good. Bruce Jenner was being "true to himself" when he, of his own free will, castrated himself. Michael Sam was "being himself" when he made out with his boyfriend on live TV. Many young teens are just being "true to themselves" when they experiment sexually. Many marriages end in divorce because one spouse (or both) want to be "true to themselves" instead of "pretending to love someone".

This whole "be yourself" thing is a lie. Its a lie crafted by the father of lies himself, and he is using it to destroy families and our country at large. Satan likes to use nice sounding phrases like this to help us justify our sin, embrace our sinful nature, and pull us away from God.

As Christians we are not called to "be ourselves", we are called to be holy. (1 Peter 1:15-16) We need to put off our old self, which is bent of evil, and strive to be more righteous and holy. (Ephesians 4:22-24)

As for those well intentioned people who use the phrase "be yourself" or "be true to yourself", Instead, I believe it would be more responsible to say "be genuine". Being genuine means that you act the same around everyone and you are honest. Being yourself could mean whatever you want it to mean, and in many cases it means embracing your sinful nature.

I'm usually not one to be picky about words, but for some reason this issue really got to me and I think some light needed to be shed on the matter. Especially during this time in our nation's history when "self" has become god.

In times like these, and all the time for that matter, we need to be less like our self and more like Jesus.