What does Easter have to do with living an authentic life? Hint: It has nothing to do with jellybeans. Answer: The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the only reason I would ever want to live an authentic life.

Authentic means real, genuine, true to reality. We hear a lot these days about people who allegedly discover their authentic selves. And we are then expected to celebrate that discovery. But the truth is that our authentic selves are not to be celebrated as is.

When sin entered the world, it entered each of us so thoroughly that we were completely corrupted. That is not to say any of us act out the evil within to the greatest extent we could, but that we are all deeply infected in every part of our being. Our bodies, our thoughts, our passions–all of it has been corrupted by sin.

Think of it as someone infected by a deadly blood-borne disease. If you were to take a sample of blood from that person, you would find the illness present in every sample, though symptoms would vary from person to person as the disease for a variety of reasons. The last thing we would want is for that person to be authentic and live out what is really inside of him or her. Not without a cure.

If we were to live an authentic life in our morally diseased state, the outcome would not be good. Our authentic self offers little to celebrate. We could make the case that at least we still bear the image of God, marred though it may be, but the rest is pretty ugly.

The names most often associated with horrific evil in the world were people who lived out the evil within themselves. According to modern logic, we should celebrate their authenticity. But we don’t. We even use a cliche to remind ourselves of this fact when we say, there but for the grace of God, go I. 

We cannot live a truly authentic life if we have not dealt with our core problem of a fallen and corrupted self. By self I mean the whole person, spiritual and physical, emotional, and rational.

Your Faith Writes Your Story

This is why my focus here at FaithWalkers is on how what we believe to be true,about ourselves, our Creator, and His universe affects how we live our lives. And how our lives write a story that we will tell for all eternity.

I have friends whom I greatly respect who write a lot about life calling and direction, but intentionally avoid talking about faith so as to reach a broader audience. I get it. I’m not knocking them or any good they may be doing. But for me, I know my life direction is ultimately determined by my faith and so I cannot separate one from the other.

Giving someone wisdom for living an authentic life isn’t going to help someone whose authentic self remains corrupted by sin. That is why I start with faith because I believe it to be at the heart of everything. And I truly do want everyone to be able to live a story worth telling.

But it will take an encounter with the resurrected Jesus to be able to live with faith focused rightly on Him. That’s why Easter matters so much to living an authentic life. Your story can only become one worth telling for all eternity because Jesus did not stay in the grave.

When Jesus rose from the grave…

• He overcame the power of sin.
• He defeated death.
• He forever united the spiritual and the physical.
• He freed me to trust in Him.
• He gave us hope.
• He proved my sins were paid for.
• He verified that all who come to the Father through Him will be accepted.
• He changed everything.
• He made it possible for me to live an authentic life.

The simple words of a song I used to hear in church as a boy seem to sum it up:

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives, all fear is gone,
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living,
Just because He lives!

Question: How is your life different because of your faith in God? Do you think of your life direction as affecting how you will spend eternity? Share your thoughts by clicking here.

Photo credit: James Emory