Embrace Authenticity

Transcript:

Hello, welcome to Walking in Step with God. I am Steve McDonald. Today we explore the topic “Embrace Authenticity” as we wrap up our latest series, “Living in the Light”. This series has been an exciting one! We’ve covered so many areas of life and what it means to share your life with God day by day. If you missed any episodes, you can find the entire series on our website, on our YouTube channel, or anywhere you find your favorite podcasts.

We’ve been discussing topics such as finding your place in society, how to show up in a way that honors God, and what it means to trust God in times of darkness and confusion. We have learned that God’s presence is with us at all times, despite how things may appear in the natural. We have also discussed the importance of connecting with others and dismissing the biases that we’ve taught ourselves as a society. We must do our very best to treat everyone with dignity and respect.

In this last segment of the series, we’re going to talk about what it means to be authentic. Authenticity can be scarce in today’s day and age. We’re always chasing the latest fashion trends, status symbols, signals of success, and popularity. There are so few signals from the world around us to just be ourselves. We are constantly bombarded with ways to change ourselves to be more appealing to others, be it in our social circles, our communities, or even our workplace.

It’s a common phrase to say, “fake it till you make it,” which in so many words is saying: don’t be yourself; be something or someone that you’re not to more easily attain your goals.

The truth is that God created a perfected work in us. I’m sure you’ve heard the term, “God doesn’t make junk.” Well, it’s true. God has formed a masterpiece in each and every one of us. The problem, unfortunately, is that society persuades us that we are not enough. We are told we are insufficient and incomplete as we are. This falsehood can take us off track, away from our God-given plan and purpose.

Please don’t get me wrong; I am also one who fell for this. I am certainly someone who has spent more than half of my life trying to be someone that I’m not when it came to trying to meet the status quo of my professional and personal peers. What I’ve learned since then is simple. Who I am in God is enough. When God created me, He did not make something that was insufficient or less than enough. I’m the one who made choices, steering away from His creation of perfection.

The same applies to every single one of you-. We shouldn’t blame ourselves for being influenced by society to not show up in an authentic way. But the sooner we learn the truth, the sooner we can be on track with the life that God has in store for us.

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Welcome back. Let’s continue in our discussion of ways to embrace authenticity in a life of faith.

Find Your Community

Let’s dive in today on the topic of community and the importance of finding the right community to be authentic. 

Do you feel you know who you really are? Most of us do. Most of us have an idea of our likes and dislikes, the things that bring us joy, and the things that bring us frustration. Most of us have a pretty good idea of the things that we find interesting as well as the things that we find absolutely boring.

The first area I’d like you to think about for being authentic is finding your community: finding a space where you can interact with others on like-minded topics and interests. In today’s day and age, with everything being digital, it is very easy to find many communities all over the world. 

When we participate in these communities, we can find enjoyment in collaborating with others, help in times of need, and friendships that have the potential to last a lifetime.

I want to invite you today to find a community where you can be yourself. You do not need a community where you have to pretend to be someone who you’re not. You can find a space (and a safe space no less) where you can come exactly as you are. 

If you’re unsure about where to find a community, here’s the good news: God can help you. You need only ask Him to direct you to a place where you can find the community that He knows is best for you.

God created you. He knows all ‌your interests, your strengths, and what you would call your weaknesses. In His eyes, they are perfection.

He naturally knows the community where you will flourish and thrive. Ask Him to direct you to the place where you can come as you are, in every sense, without compromise. Know that you will be led to a safe space to experience the full benefits of community.

Find Your Purpose

The next area I’d like you to explore to be authentic is to find your purpose. This one is a bit more challenging because it’s not always easy to find the thing that gives you such enjoyment and fulfillment—the thing that makes you wake up every day looking forward to it.

Speaking for myself, I believe I have found my purpose, but I didn’t know it for 40 years. Now that I have found it, I know it is my purpose because I think about it every day. I do it with no expectation of financial reward or compensation; I do it because I feel a motivation from my spirit to pursue it with all that I have. I truly believe my purpose is to plant this ministry, and it is one of the most fulfilling things I’ve ever experienced in my life.

I want to tell you today that God knows your purpose, and therefore it is so important to get to know God as soon as you can. Once you do, He can reveal things to you about yourself that you didn’t know. 

I want to distinguish between your purpose and things that you enjoy. People can enjoy traveling, nice cars, fancy houses, and all kinds of hobbies and sports.

These are all examples of things that we can look forward to and enjoy, but I believe your purpose is derived from who you are from within, down to your very soul and spirit. Your purpose is a carefully crafted plan that God already planted within you when He created you. Your plan has implications on how you show up in the world and the impact that you have on it. I would maintain that when you find your purpose, you have found how you will leave an imprint on the world around you. 

I believe that once you have found your purpose, God is delighted and will equip you with everything you need to fulfill it. By finding our purpose, we are being authentic because we are living out a life that is defined to our very core. When we live out our purpose, we are pursuing something that we have been perfected to do, so it is naturally authentic in its purest form.

Now, it is reasonable for most of us not to know our purpose. After all, not many people can say they know what they want to do for the rest of their life or have the passion and drive to leave an impact on the world. So many of us reach a stage in life where we may have succeeded with our careers, our education, and our family goals—we would even consider ourselves successful—but we still don’t feel that we know our purpose. 

The good news is that God can help you know your purpose; you need only ask Him. When you sincerely come before God and ask Him to help you understand your purpose, He will orchestrate things in a way for you to discover it in a way that is irrefutable and unmistakable. As you continue to lean into God, He will continue to supply you with instructions, guidance, and wisdom along the way to help you stay on track. 

Everyone on earth has a purpose, but most of us never find it. If you want to know your purpose so that you can be your true authentic self, ask God today to reveal it.

Find Your Joy 

The last point I’d like to make today in regard to being authentic is finding your joy. Finding one’s joy is not always easy, especially if we’re going through hard times. God wants us to have joy no matter what is happening in our lives because he wants us to understand that he is walking with us day by day, moment by moment.

When I think back into my past and the times I did not have joy, I must admit I also did not have God in my life. This was not because He wasn’t there, but because I was not interested in Him whatsoever. I lived for many decades without any communication or desire to communicate with God, and I can recall seasons of suffering, misery, and random acts of chaos all along the way, mixed in with the good times.

Since I’ve turned my life to God, I can honestly say that those random acts of chaos and misery have been washed away. Pain and suffering still happen every once in a while, but the frequency and severity of these things have diminished, and in some areas of life, they have completely disappeared. In addition to this, there is a joy inside of me that has never existed before.

Again, I’m not suggesting that if you love God with all of your heart and mind that you will never have problems. I am saying that when you have God in your life and you make him first, there is a persistence of joy in everything in your life. When we keep our eyes on God first, I believe we have access to a level of joy that is simply not possible through earthly things or even earthly relationships.

I believe that when we put God first, He covers us with protection; He heals us when we need healing, We are guided and directed to a path that He knows is best for us.

Amidst this walk, there will be bumps in the road, such as a financial setback, a medical diagnosis, or conflict with someone you love. These events are not joyful, but I maintain that the joy we receive from having a relationship with God can wash away the feelings of pain and suffering.

I believe we can be authentic when we seek the joy that God has in store for us, which only He can provide. When we find that joy, we can live a life walking day by day with this light in a way we never could have imagined, even amidst trials and tribulations. When something goes wrong, we find ourselves living through disappointment or sorrow, but we can still have joy knowing that we are with God as we walk through the process.

Wrap Up

Today we talked about a number of ways to embrace authenticity.

We are all unique, and we can come exactly as we are into a community that will bring us support, camaraderie, wisdom, and even friendship. We don’t have to change ourselves to fit into the mold of someone else. We don’t have to “fake it until we make it.” We need only be ourselves exactly as we are, for we are beautifully and wonderfully made. We can ask God to help us find the community that he knows is best for us to grow, flourish, and thrive.

This is not an easy thing to do. Certainly for me, I don’t believe I found my purpose until I was in my 40s. The sooner we can learn of our purpose, the sooner we have the potential of finding the thing that God has planted within us—to not only impact the world, but to live a life that brings true satisfaction and fulfillment to our very core. It is absolutely possible to enjoy many things in life but still not know your purpose. The good news is that God knows exactly why He created us, and we can always reach out to Him as the source of truth.

We can be authentic when we understand the importance of having a relationship with God. In doing so, we can discover a joy that only exists when we have true union with Him. Without God in our lives, we are incomplete. Without God, we may find success in how the earth defines it; we may possess things that the earth says we should seek to possess. There is, however, a type of joy that only comes when we are intimately one with our Creator, the Almighty God. When we find ourselves in this union, I believe God allows us to feel a level of joy that we have never felt. If we truly seek ‌a level of authentic joy, we will ask God to guide us to a powerful and meaningful relationship with Him, and he will gladly show us the way.

These areas help us see the importance and opportunity to be authentic. We don’t need to fake it till we make it; we need only be exactly as we are to be present in the world. 

Our society is one that forces us to believe that we must live up to standards that rely on popularity, wealth, and status. The truth is, we are all the same in God’s eyes. So, I encourage you to seek out a life that focuses on authenticity by focusing on who you are in God. Don’t allow society to dictate what you are or who you should be. Ask God who you are and ask Him to reveal to you all that you are in Him.

Are you interested in discovering more about the guidance offered in this message? Learn more in the companion article Going Deeper with the Word: Embrace Authenticity