Getting to Know Your True Self
Do you know anyone living behind a mask, that is, they are pretending to be someone or something they are not? They are faking it, and appear to be getting away with it in certain circles. Their make believe life is having such problems as:
Fear is one emotion, fear of being found out, fear of failure, or fear of rejection. Fear has many eyes.
Lloyd Douglas, one of the most popular authors of his time wrote: “If a person harbors any sort of fear, it percolates through all of his thinking, damages his personality and makes him a landlord to a ghost. Fear must be faced and conquered; else it becomes the conqueror.” That alone is reason not to live a lie.
The second emotional factor is self-hatred. Being aware they can’t live up to the expectations of others they begin to grow hatred for themselves. It is defeating and destructive of the pretender. The search for success by the standards held by others is frustrating. Not even God expects a person to be successful, only faithful. Self-hatred tends toward destruction. It may not be self-destruction, but can be by over extension, making obviously bad decisions that are destructive, rejection of virtuous love, or ignoring obvious opportunities.
A third emotion is unresolved anger. The tragedy is the anger might be poured out on the innocent. Criminal acts are often the result. Anger can lead to overstimulation of the thyroid and adrenal glands. Debilitating results may be arthritis, mental disease, vascular disease. These are some of the reasons the Scripture advises that we not let the sun go down on our anger. Deal with it.
Resolve not to keep score. The scorekeeper always wins and in life that isn’t good.
Don’t swear vengeance, God says that is His job. He can do a better job of it.
Spiritual therapy will help. Remember how God has forgiven you and act in a godly manner by doing the same for others.
The fourth emotion resulting from living a pretentious false life is loneliness. One can be lonely without being alone, and alone without being lonely.
One avoidable type of loneliness results when, instead of “being yourself” a role is played that can be corrected by being your true self. This intensifies because people never get to know the true self which becomes loneliness. The persons becomes hostile to self and others. The result of getting on better terms with yourself is you can be on better terms with others.
The prerequisite for getting over loneliness and these other detrimental traits is getting on better terms with God. Shakespear wisely proffered, “Of all knowledge the wise and good seek most to know themselves.”
“This is what the Lord says: ‘Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 9: 23, 24).