Should “you do you”?

 

There seems to be a lot of talk, time, and talents given these days to personal, self-aggrandizement.

How many voices are telling you, “You do you”?  “Put yourself on display.  Pursue what makes you happy.  Make sure you be true to yourself.”  These are all COMMON themes in our culture…and they are killing your joy AND soul. 

 

Let’s take the phrase, “You do you.”  What does that even me…except to elevate self, call attention to your autonomous self.  Now, to be fair, the world has no other option than this line of reasoning.  The world is busy trying to remake the garden of Eden in their own strength.  The world is busy building towers of Babel even if without bricks, in order to reach heaven and dethrone God.  The world has no other options…

 

…but how sad when this comes to the church?  We Christians are NOT to even accentuate any so-called personality.  We are to “have the mind of Christ” (Phil 2:2ff.); we are to mimic (yes; that Greek word is the word form which this generation gets “meme”) Christ’s self-sacrificial love (Eph 5:2).  We are to walk like Him, talk like Him, act like Him, trust God like Him (Heb 2:13)….but I digress….

…back to the phrase at hand, “You do you.”

  

Did you know that Paul EXPLICITLY says just the opposite…

 

 

The first clause is more literally…

“I do not count my life worth a single word” (NET translation notes)…or very literally…

 

“I do not DO (or MAKE) one word about my life”

  

Did you hear that correctly…?  Yes. 

 

Paul does not DO a word about his own life (nor is his life precious to himself….the second clause).

 

Paul’s LIFE is not precious to himself….nor it is worth making a word…not a word in defense, not a word in exaltation, not a word in demanding respect….

 

SO THAT….He can make much of the gospel of God

 

 

 You will either make many words about yourself or about God–you cannot do both.  Which one will be said of you?

 

10,000 Blessings in THE Wonderful Counselor,