My Most Authentic Self

We have arrived at a new mantra these days. Far from the old "Children should be seen and not heard," we've moved to "I can only be fully satisfied if I am my most authentic self." You know. "Follow your heart." "You can be whatever you want to be." "Don't let anyone tell you you can't." No one seems to notice how dangerous these things can be because, I suspect, we believe that all people -- especially kids -- are basically good, so "my most authentic self" and "whatever I want to be" will likely be good. In the words of Bugs Bunny, "He don't know me very well, do he?"

In Proverbs we read, "Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it" (Prov 22:6). Some people see that as a promise. It's not; it's a proverb. It is proverbial -- common knowledge, stereotypical, generally true. But it's interesting, too, that some are suggesting that the word "should" is a bit mistaken. It might be better translated "would." The most literal translation of the Hebrew here is "in his own way." The Amplified Bible includes the phrase, "in keeping with his individual gift or bent." If that is accurate, the idea would be that if you train up a child in they way he (or she) would naturally tend to go, it will become nearly impossible to change them later in life. A warning rather than a promise.

If we are to take a biblical worldview, human beings all have deceitful, desperately wicked hearts (Jer 17:9). "No one does good; not even one" (Rom 3:12). So "follow your heart" is a recipe for disaster. What's needed is a corrective, a reliable source to apply to guide the heart, the self, to what it should be rather than where it would naturally go. If "my most authentic self" is a sinner, aiming for that is a bad idea. Appealing to the "heart-Maker" -- the One that promises a new heart (Ezek 36:26), a new self (Eph 4:24; Col 3:10) -- would seem the best approach. As obvious as that might be, it appears our current society sees no reason to be concerned with "you do you" mentality.