Not Who I Want to Be

A person's self-image is their mental picture of themselves and can be quite resistant to deliberate change while naturally accepting transitions from the environment surrounding us. Our perspective, the way we see ourselves, may include physical or measurable details, such as height, weight, hair color, gender, and IQ score, but also includes qualities from personal experiences, traits developed by internalizing or accepting the judgments of others, and specific characteristics we adapt from others, whether we desire to assimilate them or not.

If we are not influenced by God's Word, we will be influenced by the world. The way we see ourselves is naturally influenced by the world around us. To find the image by which we were created takes deliberate effort and focus. We will not accidentally stumble upon our true selves unless we go looking, unless we search diligently, and unless we sift through the counterfeit images and false masks cloaking our real identity.

Being real, genuine, or who God calls us to be is not a destination; it is a lifestyle. This lifestyle begins by purposely recognizing the unfiltered and unchecked information stored away and accepted as part of our self-image and deliberately cleaning it out. This lifestyle continues by establishing a filter for the untruths, a standard to compare what is false to what is real and what is counterfeit to what is genuine. To do this, we must have a standard for comparison… we must know the one true Standard for comparison.

This book begins by analyzing the external sources of our self-image, how these sources influence our lives, and works through finding our truth in Scripture and in the example given to us in the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus becomes our Standard and Filter to find a true reflection and what it means to be real and genuine.