Tag benchmarks for authenticity

Truly authentic life

A truly authentic life brings peace, but it isn’t always so easy to accomplish.

I’ve had a cold and had to bow out of attending the latest “The Chosen” with our small group last week. But I wasn’t feeling too bad about it. Our leader had invited a couple that hasn’t regularly attended the group for at least two years now. Over the time they did attend, it became apparent, due to many inconsistencies, that they were disingenuous. Frankly, I didn’t want to have to work that hard pretending because I’m not very good at it anymore.

Consistency matters to live authentically.

I am not good with people I sense are unreal, which is why I work hard to be authentic myself because I want people to be very comfortable around me. I don’t want to be anything I’m not. And I want the person who writes here to be the same person others meet in real life. I work hard at being honest with my blogging and my books.

I don’t want to be one way with one person and someone else around another. We need to live lives that are consistent with our beliefs. But we have to know what those beliefs are in the first place. That’s for another post.

Who’s authentic?

I have a book by John Ortberg called, “Everybody’s Normal Till You Get To Know Them.” It’s a great book, and he’s one of my favorite authors.

My husband and I have become acquainted with a couple who live near our cabin. Over the years, we’ve become good friends. We’ve become good friends, and yet we are very different, right down to our theology. They subscribe to Calvinistic theology, and we don’t. They hate eating out; we love it. She’s not interested in decorating, and I love it. I wear makeup; she doesn’t. She loves cooking; I don’t.

BUT…….

They are authentic people. They are good people.

The benchmark for true authenticity

When you think about it, we view people as normal ’till we get to know their quirks, their thinking, and their habits. And if they don’t fit in with ours, we assume they are the abnormal ones.

If you a truly an authentic person, you are living an authentic life and authentic living is Christan living.

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And, of course, we use ourselves as the benchmark for normal because we’re the normal ones.

When the truth is, they’re simply not like us.

But as I mentioned about my friends, we are very different from them, and yet we are comfortable around them because they never play games. They speak their minds, and their lives reflect what they say. They are consistent. That’s a true reflection of who they are.

What about you?

Are you living a truly authentic life?

A life that clearly reflects what you believe?

It took me a long time to get here, but I can pretty much say I’m there now. I try not to overly-explain myself. I express my views without apology.

But I also remember the first and greatest commandment to “love my neighbor as myself,” which means I am sensitive to situations and people.

And,, of course, there are always those circumstances where we engage in just trivial conversation. I have found that even in those situations, though, the truer I am to who I am, the easier those conversations are as well. But it’s not something we need to have at the forefront of our minds every time we’re in a conversation with others.

When I’m around someone who I feel uncomfortable with, it’s almost always because I sense their inauthenticity. I avoid these people because then my own authenticity is compromised, and I don’t want to be wishy-washy and just go along to get along. I’m a people-pleaser and have been guilty of this in the past.

I hope you are living a life that is consistent with your deepest hopes and dreams.

God bless, and have a good day.