One of the common obstacles to spiritual growth is the energy that we invest in projecting and defending our false selves — the professional and personal pictures of ourselves that are not quite what we really are. Everyone does it to some extent and we do it for a variety of reasons: self-protection, ego-needs, guilt, fear, a lack of integration.
Of course how much we can be fully vulnerable and transparent with others depends on a variety of factors: the length of time we have known the people with whom we interact, the intimacy of our relationships, and the trustworthiness of the people with whom we are vulnerable.
But on the whole it is better to be as fully as possible the one person God created us to be.
The energy we invest in projecting false selves divides and innervates; and when we relate to God from so many different “selves” the Spirit’s work is divided as well. At its worst such projection ends in spiritual bankruptcy or mental illness.
“Be true to yourself” is more than a Shakespearian maxim. It is good spiritual advice. When we live from a single identity we make ourselves fully present to God.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Mt.5:8 To see God is the greatest of all goals and treasures. This pure heart that Jesus spoke about eludes us everyday in tiny matters as well as with the ebb and flow of life and then with the big issues. We should pray like King David to have a clean heart created within us. Without such we will never see God in a favorable way. All will see Him one day but Christians don’t want to be ashamed when He appears. Seeing God to me is only possible through pursuing a clean heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. If I see God I see myself for I am made in His image and I can be at peace with myself and thus with my Maker. In other words, I can accept myself knowing full well I fall far short of the glory of God but believing He sees my heart’s desire which is Him.
Carol Lawson