Sometimes people don't want to be themselves but pretend to be somebody else. F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby deals with such a man. A native of North Dakota, this man changes his name from James Gatz to Jay Gatsby. While in military training for World War 1, he falls in love with a southern belle far his superior in wealth and culture. When he works for a rich man who has a yacht, he learns what it means to be rich. Gatsby wants to be like that, so he becomes a prominent bootlegger and soon has enough money to buy a big mansion on Long Island. People attend his parties, not because they are his friends but because the drinks are free. Even in death he plays the role of another, for he is shot by someone who mistakes him for another.
Be what you are! Those who blindly copy the lifestyles of other people may harbor this desire because they don't like themselves. But, God loves them, each one as an individual. This love He proved when through His Son He redeemed them as persons, as St. Paul declares, "God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom 5:8)
Having by faith become a new creation in Christ, you have the right to be what you are -- an honest, upright person using the distinctive talents and gifts God has given you. I pray that God will remove all pretense from our hearts and give us the desire to be ourselves: redeemed children of God.
In His service,
Matt
