If you spend much time listening closely to modern pop music you will quickly come to discover that one of the themes of this age is “be true to yourself.”
Consider some lyrics from the Katy Perry song Firework: “You don’t have to feel like a wasted space. You’re original, cannot be replaced. … Do you know that there’s still a chance for you ‘cause there’s a spark in you? You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine.”
Do you hear the theme running through these words? You’re a firework just waiting to explode so that everyone can look at you and recognize your true greatness.Be true to yourself because that’s where the real fuel lies. This idea of being true to yourself to achieve greatness is a huge part of our modern culture, especially for young folks. Over and over again we hear, “You are special and if you’ll just be true to yourself, become your truest self, eventually the world is going to recognize and celebrate this.”
But, there’s a catch to all this: To which self exactly are we to be true? Our culture assumes that our truest self is simply whoever we happen to feel we are at a given moment. But, what if this assumption turns out to be false?
We have already seen in the previous three parts that when this world was broken beyond the ability to repair itself God moved into the neighborhood in the person of Jesus Christ. He came, stepping down out of glory, to transform the world. This transformation process began when Jesus shined light on the broken places of this world in order that we could see how to join him in making them right.
With this understanding place, we are at a crossroads. How are we going to respond to the light? Well, John doesn’t answer this question in the opening lines of his Gospel, but he does tell us what will happen if we do. Picking up a little further into the intro, listen to how this starts: “The Life-Light was the real thing: Every person entering Life he brings into Light.”
On occasion I’ll try and sing along with the radio at a volume to low to hear well. When I finally turn it up some I’ll discover that I was singing along in a different key than the original! Stay with me. Listening to a song at a low volume is like trying to live in low light. We think we can hear — or see — well, but with a bit more volume — or light — we discover that what we thought was in tune was actually not. What we thought was real was actually not. We can only take in what our eyes can behold. With our eyes adjusted to the dark, though, it is easy to convince ourselves that a little bit of light is enough.
Indeed, if we want to remain mired in the darkness, we can. Look what John says next: “He was in the world, the world was there through him, and yet the world didn’t even notice. He came to his own people, but they didn’t want him.” Have you ever watched the show Undercover Boss? The basic premise is that a CEO disguises himself and goes to work in a variety of entry level company jobs. The employees — whose jobs all ultimately depend on him — never recognize him. Sometimes employees are found to be doing their jobs poorly. Without exception when these folks discover the secret it is not a happy surprise.
Jesus offers us light, but we don’t have to receive it. We can continue to walk in darkness if we choose. We can wait around for our firework to ignite and leave everyone amazed by our awesomeness. Eventually, though, the joke is going to be on us.
There is, however, another way. “But whoever did want him, who believed he was who he claimed and would do what he said, he made to be their true selves, their child-of-God selves.” This is what happens when we walk in the light of Christ. We become our truest selves. In Christ we become ourselves.
You know, in a sense, our culture is right to encourage us to be true to ourselves. It is simply wrong about who that self is and where we will find it. As Katy Perry’s song proclaims, the world tells us to look inside for this star. But it’s not there. Looking to ourselves is what got the neighborhood so broken in the first place. Our truest self is the one God created for us to be to his glory and our joy. This self is only accessible when we are walking in the light of Christ. In this sense, in Christ we become ourselves.
Actually, while Firework is the perfect anthem for the modern age, its controlling metaphor is appropriately ironic. Fireworks certainly are beautiful and they make people ooh and ah. But, they’re cheap, they don’t last long, they don’t leave any kind of a legacy, and if you’re not careful with them they’ll burn you. Is that really the self you want to be? Why not choose a self that’s of inestimable value, eternal, long celebrated in the halls of heaven, and will bring healing and joy to everyone around it? This is the self God designed you to be. This is the self you’ll be able to see when you walk consistently in the light of Christ. It is the self you will be when you are found fully in Christ. In Christ we become ourselves.
The Christ who left glory to move into the neighborhood and shine light for us to be able to see clearly where and who we’re broken so that we can be made right will lead us to become fully who God designed us to be when we receive what he has to give. In Christ we become ourselves.