Giving them what they want ...

(without losing who you are)

Becoming comfortable with who we are — with who God made us to be — is a challenging task, but the resulting liberation is invaluable. I like the way Eugene Peterson translates Romans 12:2 in The Message translation:

Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

God makes it clear: He looks at the heart. When God was choosing a leader for Israel, the prophet Samuel was leaning toward men who “looked” the part, like Eliab, who was apparently tall and handsome with minty fresh breath. But the Lord tells Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7:

Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

Here’s what I should be asking: Who am I at the core of my heart; am I trying to deny that for any reason? Is my “window dressing” an attempt to disguise who I really am or is it just a part of making a good presentation? If the integrity of my heart isn’t compromised then I’ve met the most important standard.

So go ahead and “give them what they want,” as long as you start by giving God what He wants — a pure heart. Resist the temptation to try to fit the mold — the culture around you — and instead embrace the person God made you to be, trusting that He knows what He’s doing. The earlier we learn this lesson, the more disappointment and frustration we’ll avoid down the road.