One of the blogs that appears in my Google Reader every day has frequent videos. An unfortunate part of this is they have sponsors which usually demand a 15-second promo of something before the featured video runs. Since I dislike commercials, this is annoying. Since we live in a world that feeds off commercials, it's just a fact of life.
A recent sponsor has been eHarmony, the "relationship building" site. A very hipster-looking young man comes on (you know the type––v-neck sweater over the basic white t-shirt, retro-looking glasses, faux-mohawk hairdo, facial hair that almost looks like he's thinking about growing a beard someday, skinny jeans––yeah, the whole look) and tells me he's not looking for dates, he's looking for a serious relationship with a girl. One of the primary features he wants is, as he puts it, "…someone who will let me be me and I'll enjoy her being her…"
That's so sweet, isn't it? I'm mean if you had that in an edible form and fed it to laboratory rats, they'd develop cancer and kill themselves within three days. We're talking "major emo laboratory rats, cutting themselves big time" type sickeningly sweet. And did I mention vapid? Insipid? Saccharine? Yeah, I probably did.
Besides being completely empty and meaningless, who in the world would want me to "just be me"? No, a thousands times, no! You don't really want me to be "me." I'm awful! I'm selfish, prideful, filled with anger. I can be frequently sullen, surly and morose. At other times, I'm overly excitable about al the wrong things. No, without a doubt, do not want to let me "just be me." If things don't go my way, I'm a "first class, etching glass" whiner. Fearful? If it weren't for ranitidine, my stomach lining would have fled years ago. Overbearing? Heavy-handed? Bossy? Absolutely, and with flourish. What about impatient? "That shoulda been done yesterday!"
And don't even get me started on a complete and thorough list of biblical sins? Envious? Jealous? Greedy? How about gossip-y or covetous or deceitful? Lustful, murderous, filthy, despising, idolatrous…where does it stop?
Yeah, so I think you're getting my point: you don't want to let me be me. You want me to be like Christ. It's your only hope. He's my only hope. Otherwise, I'm a miserable, deplorable, despicable, depraved sinner.
No one wants me to be me. And, no offense intended, I certainly don't want you to be you. I want us both to be conformed to the image of Christ. I want us both to have peace with God because we've been declared just in God's eyes by virtue of faith in Christ alone. I want us to no longer be condemned, but to know that the Spirit of life has set us both free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
I'll not be going on eHarmony, looking for that "certain someone" who can let me be me. God has gifted me with a wonderful woman who doesn't want me to be me and doesn't let me be me. She wants me to be like Christ, loving her to the point where I'd gladly give up anything I am––even alive, if necessary––to serve her.
That's what I want to be, as well.