There are a lot of things I find scary – sitting at the top of Canada's Wonderland's Drop Zone, speaking in front of big groups of people, having to make big decisions about the future… But the one of the scariest things I can think of is one that I have to face every single day – the danger of being real.

It may seem strange, but there is so much risk involved in being real:

I don't listen to cool music or wear the right clothes. People won't understand me. If they don't understand me, they won't like me…

If I let people see my weaknesses, they'll think I'm a wimp. They'll think I can't do anything…

If I don't have all the right answers, people will think I don't know anything…

With my church friends, if I were to be open about the things I struggle with and the things that really go on in my life, they would think I wasn't holy enough. They'd judge me and try to fix me…

Each of these sentences could be finished with the words "So I'll just have to try to be who they want me to be."

Is that who you want to be? Is that how you want people to see you? Always strong, always happy, always cool, always perfect…always determined by the group of people around you. That's a lot of pressure to put on yourself.

Christ gave us an alternative. Freedom to be who we were created to be (1). Christ offers us a new, eternal life. This is not something that only starts once we die and finally get out of our crappy lives. This starts as soon as you ask for it.

As Christians, we have been given this new life: a new identity and a new purpose based on what GOD wants, not on what everyone around us wants. This frees us from trying to live up to other people's standards - standards that are not only impossible to meet, but will end up hurting us. God's desires for us will bring the best for us and for everyone around us (2). And when we are founded in this new identity Christ gives us and are focussed on living out his purposes, we have the freedom to be real (3). Any mistakes we make, the things we can or can't do don't change who we are…because our identity is not based on what WE can do, but what GOD did (4).

And strangely enough, the strongest testimony of God doesn't come from the strong, perfect, cool person who's got it all together…it comes from the person who's being real.

Verses to check out:
(1) Galatians 5:1
(2) Jeremiah 29:11
(3) Hebrews 4:14-16
(4) John 3:16

- Amy Bayliff