Wearing an Identity or Having it Wear You?

       The essence of cool is that cool is never trying to look cool...it just is. I was in Canal Park taking some photos for my sermon this Sunday. Come join us, it's about breakwaters...anyway, people watching is always fun and an enjoyable part of getting out in our tourist town.

       Here's what overwhelmed me today as I was watching people. We gain so much of our identity through our externals. The miltary jacket, aviators, skinny jeans, team jackets, name brands, dreads, angst, hairstyles, scowls, camera equipment etc...Have you ever noticed the difference between when someone looks the part, but they aren't and then when someone owns the look they have. Like the 13 year old boy who tries to mousse his hair like his 19 year old brother. He doesn't own the look, the look actually owns him. Whatever attempts are being made to be cool are lost when your look owns you!!

      Years of being a Youth Pastor means years of watching young people try to take on an identity. When the look they choose and the person they are goes together it's radically different than when the look chosen is some fantasy land of theirs. 

       It's the difference between a facade, a veneer or solid piece of oak through and through.

       This is at the heart of discipleship and maturity. There is a moment in time when the look owns us and we are trying real hard to be something we are not (really). If we are honest with ourselves and spend our days fixing the core of our hearts, what comes on the outside will be a reflection of what's been remade on the inside.

        Our identities are never really about what's on the outside like we could wear it. Our identity is fashioned on the inside and we wear it. Is a life of faith a facade? A look that we're trying to achieve for the purpose of... Or is a life of faith something that penetrates to the marrow of our bones. We are not disingenuous or duplicitous( I actually do know big words and use them once in awhile)! Solid, believable, to the core. Faith in Christ has a look to it. Facades, Veneers, and Genuine are all pretty easy to spot.