Self Image

We live in a fake world. We can’t really trust anything we see, hear, or read. AI has generated distrust. Images of people, places, and things that we don’t know if they truly exist or not. Articles written, not by people but AI and passed on as original work. Students using AI to write educational papers for their assignments. This isn’t a bash on AI. I’m only pointing out our fake society. People are fake too. We look at each other with skepticism and caution. We can’t trust what we see. And remember we are part of the people who make up our society. Yes, we too tend to be fake. I am of the opinion that all of this contributes to our depression. It may not be the cause, but it certainly makes contributions to it.

“Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else.” (Galatians 6:4). What would we find if we tested our own actions? If we took an honest look at ourselves, would we see our true self? Will we find that we have denied our true self in an attempt to fit in? Do we even know our true self? If we look closely we’ll probably discover the false image we put out for people to see. The comparison game traps us in a false self image. So here we are, living with a self image that is fake. This fake image makes us feel depressed. The distrust we have for society tends to lead us toward isolation. Isolation aids our depression. 

The comparison trap contributes to our false self image. We compare ourselves to others in order to know who we need to be to be liked and accepted. We need to embrace our true self. Is acceptance so important that we touch with our true self? Is it truly worth being someone we’re not. “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8:36). When we take on a false image of ourselves we might gain the world, but we give up our soul in the process. Eventually we will get to a point where we are so far from our true self that we don’t recognize who we really are. We have lived a fake life for so long that we believe what we see. We have so many masks that we don’t know which one, if any, are us. 

Our true identity is found in Jesus. We were created in the image of God, not in an image of who we think we should be. We can choose our false image and gain the relationships, jobs, status, and a bunch of others. But at what cost. Or, we can choose to be the person God created us to be. God created us as a unique person so that we would be different from others, not so we can change to fit in. Our uniqueness is an asset. The challenge is to shed the false self image and regain our God given image. Some in this world may not like us as we are, but our Creator, God, who made us in His image will be pleased.