Last week I read an incredible post by local pastor, church planter, Pete Wilson mainly in response to John Piper’s statement on leaving for 8 months to rekindle and embrace his relationship with God and his wife Noel.
Pete continued and highlights a section about “public productivity”, take a look:
“I got a bit of a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when I read “In 30 years, I have never let go of the passion for public productivity.” Those words cut me deeply because they echo the words of my own heart. I make no bones about it that I often struggle with an addiction to public productivity.”
Read the whole post here, if you’d like. But I want to turn our attention to the issue of our public image.
I’ve got a confession to make. God has begun to humble me for years of trying to be something, someone I’m not. Just recently, have I begun to understand that even though I have a dream to become famous in the Christian circle like Carlos Whittaker, Andy Stanley, and even Pete it may not be God’s plan.
So it started with this blog actually, I at first made it look just like Los’ and that was back in the 2ndChance days. Quickly I would try to be who I wasn’t. It wasn’t just with the blog. My look, my speech, my passions, etc would all be a part of the equation to my “Public Image”. Us, Christians, all struggle with this ego problem. We want everyone to accept us, love us, want to be us. But why do they want to be someone who is already just like someone else? That’s just not original.
My latest dream now, whether I make it big or not, is to just be REAL! I want to be the most authentic I can be in my faith, no matter what that means. If it means completely just jumping out in faith, then I will. If it means doing something not “cool” in the “public eye” but for God, I’ll do it!
I am speaking to myself here too, but QUIT caring about what others think! Let’s care about what GOD thinks.
Your “Public Image” should be all based around your Lord & Savior.
What is your confession about being obsessed with your “Public Image”?
Rhys Searles is a Husband, Son, Brother, Pastor, & creative social network junkie. 
Rhys, thanks for being so honesty in this post…definitely one of your best posts man. In a culture that is driven by materialistic things, like clothing, hair style, image, etc it is tough sometimes to put that aside and find your true identity in Christ. What a great reminder for us all.
Keep striving to keep Christ’s identity for your life.
Thanks for the challenge.
John
Great post Rhys. I really appreciate your humility and honesty. God is going to use you in a powerful way. Keep it real bro!!
Nice brother!
Does this mean your hair product cost will be less than Hannah’s now?! lol Seriously though…glad to see you hitting this topic! Speaking of Piper…read “Don’t Waste Your Life” by him. I recently worked through it and it does a great job at hitting this. On the one hand we have to fight this popularity thing, but on the other hand we do want to make God attractive through us, because we want our own lives to cause others to see something that they will instinctively desire. The problem is finding out how to do that by boasting God, not ourselves! It’s a worthwhile study read!
Best Post Ever. Being real is tough, so much easier to hide behind an image and who you think others want you to be. Still trying to figure that out…