Quotes About Authenticity

You can't have the true peace of Christ's kingdom with lies and pretense.

When, out of fear, we avoid conflict and appease people, we are false peacemakers. For

Most leaders shipwreck or live inconsistent lives because of forces and motivations beneath the surface of their lives, which they have never even considered.

Estamos tan ciegos que, mientras el mundo nos observa y da muestras de desaprobación, no somos capaces de visualizar la gran brecha existente entre nuestras palabras y nuestro proceder en la vida cotidiana.

The true vocation for every human being is, as Kierkegaard said, "the will to be oneself."5

But an authentic relationship with Christ also takes us into the depths — the shadows, the strongholds and the darkness deep within our own souls that must be purged. Surrendering to this inward and downward journey is difficult and painful.

What is most startling in reading a detailed explanation of what goes on beneath the surface at the age of fifteen is that the same dynamics continue into the twenties, thirties, fifties, seventies, and nineties. We remain trapped in living a pretend life out of an unhealthy concern for what other people think.

Jesus shows us that healthy Christians do not avoid conflict. His life was filled with it! He was in regular conflict with the religious leaders, the crowds, the disciples—even his own family. Out of a desire to bring true peace, Jesus disrupted the false peace all around him. He refused to spiritualize conflict avoidance.

Parker Palmer lo expresa muy bien: Hay al menos una cosa que me ha quedado clara: el cuidado de sí mismo no es nunca un acto egoísta; sencillamente es una buena mayordomía del único don que tenemos; fui puesto en la tierra para poderles ofrecer ese don a los demás. Cada vez que podamos escuchar a nuestro verdadero yo y darle el cuidado que necesita, no lo hacemos solo para nosotros mismos, sino también para los muchos otros cuyas vidas tocamos.

When we deny our pain, losses, and feelings year after year, we become less and less human.

Few killer viruses are more difficult to discern than this one. On the surface all appears to be healthy and working, but it's not. All those hours and hours spent lost in one Christian book after another . . . all those many Christian responsibilities outside the home or going from one seminar to another . . . all that extra time in prayer and Bible study. . . . At times we use these Christian activities as an unconscious attempt to escape from pain. In

Por qué? No puedes tener la paz verdadera del reino de Cristo con mentiras o fingimientos.

True freedom comes when we no longer need to be somebody special in other people's eyes because we know we are loveable and good enough.

Ignoring our emotions is turning our back on reality.

Mandamiento enfermizo 2: Lo que haces es más importante que lo que eres

The vast majority of us go to our graves without knowing who we are. We unconsciously live someone else's life, or at least someone else's expectations for us. This does violence to ourselves, our relationship with God, and ultimately to others.

Why is it that so many Christians make such lousy human beings?

I truly believe the greatest gift we can give the world is our true self living in loving union with God.

For this reason the famous Hasidic story of Rabbi Zusya remains so important for us today: Rabbi Zusya, when he was an old man, said, "In the coming world, they will not ask me: 'Why were you not Moses?' They will ask me, 'Why were you not Zusya?

the result of denying and minimizing our wounds over many years is that we become less and less human, empty Christian shells with painted smiley faces.

are deeply loved by God for who we are, not for what we do.

Your being with God (or lack of being with God) will trump, eventually, your doing for God every time. We cannot give what we do not possess. We cannot help but give what we do possess.

Not only does God not reject or punish us for being honest and transparent about our whole selves, but he actually accepts and loves us where we are. We are anchored in God's love as he gives us permission to express ourselves—the bad along with the good—and take care of ourselves in an appropriate way.

The problem was that I wasn't truly free. Freedom comes when we no longer need to be somebody special in other people's eyes. We are to be content to be popular with him alone.