“We will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of His body, the Church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” (Ephesians 4:13-15)

While it is a noble pursuit to be genuine and sincere to who God created you to be, the phrase ‘just be who you are’ and other variations like ‘be true to yourself’ or just ‘do you’ can actually lead into a false version of who you are.

The third reason, and perhaps most importantly, is that it sabotages community. The ‘just be you’ phrase could really be considered the national anthem for our me-istic, value-driven culture, and perhaps, it is why we are experiencing such a Grand Canyon-sized division in almost every aspect of our lives today. The simple truth is that we cannot each have it our own way and still survive.

We are created individuals of a collective created order. That means we are not called to independence, but rather interdependence. Our Creator left no room for this to be questioned when He looked down on the first created man and said, “It is not good for him to be alone.” And from that moment on, God continually demonstrates this lesson over and over again throughout the Heilsgeschichte–God’s salvation history.

For the Bible tells the story of God continually bringing the individual back into community with himself and others. In fact, the correct anthem we should be singing might be better worded in this sense as ‘let’s be us’. Because the truth is that when you as an individual are saved by Jesus, your true uniqueness will be best seen in togetherness with others.

So meditate and consider this in Ephesians 4:13-15:
“We will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of His body, the Church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.”

Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank You for saving us and bringing us out of this individualistic idea where we live, in many words, as the true definition of idiot unto ourselves.

But instead, Your salvation not only redeems us as individuals in our unique crafting and creation, but it helps join us back into the original design, which is to place us in community with others. And so, God, would You continue to bless us and keep us in your community? Help us to use our gifts to bless others. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.