Posted on by Andrew Black

What Do We See When We Look Deep Within Ourselves?

Our Western culture has rapidly evolved over the past 60 years.  Being born in 1995, I haven’t fully been able to see the whole picture of this cultural shift.  However, just looking at this past decade, I believe I have a pretty good grasp of it.  In 2020 America, one of the biggest values in our culture is authenticity, or “being real.”

I want to list a few slogans that have not only taken root in our culture, but are valued to the highest degree. 

  • “Be true to yourself.”
  • “You be you.”
  • “You do you.”
  • “Follow your heart.”

Maybe you are wondering what the problem is with these slogans.  Perhaps you endorse them or live by them.  After all, what sounds so bad about “being true to yourself” or “following your heart”?

I want to submit to you a cultural philosophy that is aligned with slogans such as these.  These quotes are the slogan versions of what has been coined Expressive Individualism.  Don’t be too impressed.  I am not smart enough to coin that myself.  I heard about this philosophy for the first time from Trevin Wax, senior vice president of Theology and Communications at LifeWay Christian Resources. You can learn more about this subject from him, as well as through articles from The Gospel Coalition.  Now let’s get right to it.  What on earth is Expressive Individualism?  Basically, it is this idea that the purpose of life, or goal of life, is to find out who you are deep down inside.  One does this by looking at his deepest desires, and in turn expresses those desires to the world.  Let’s break it down further. This idea might be summarized in this way:

Individualistic- You are responsible for defining who you are based on the desires you have deep within you. 

Expressive- You are responsible for displaying, or expressing those desires to the world. 

This is what I believe we are seeing in our culture. It all stems from a desire to be real and authentic. This philosophy teaches that once someone expresses that authenticity, a good society is to applaud or affirm that individual for being true to himself.  Whether it is sexual immorality, abandoning one’s family to chase after a dream, or whatever reason, society is to affirm those actions because, after all, it is life’s purpose to find your true self. If you watch television or spend any time on social media, you have seen this with your own two eyes.  An example is a married couple that divorces for no legitimate reason. The justification is “it’s for the best” or “we’re just following our hearts.”  According to Expressive Individualism, these two have reached their truest selves, so the society should affirm that decision. 

We need to note that Expressive Individualism has taken off because there is some truth in it.  Most false religions, ideologies, and philosophies are not one hundred percent wrong across the board.  It is ingrained into humanity to find our truest selves.  What makes expressive individualism wrong is that people are looking for authenticity in the wrong places. As a matter of fact, when we look deep within ourselves, the sight isn’t pretty.  Apart from Christ, our nature is that of sin, and we choose to sin all the time.  We don’t seek after God; rather we seek after sinful idols to fulfill our own selfish desires.  In following the world’s philosophies, we actually get farther away from our truest selves.  When God created people, our purpose was to reflect His glory and walk in fellowship with Him. Before sin entered the world, Adam and Eve had a perfectly secure identity in God. They had no void to fill until sin entered the world. Sin has severely tainted our truest selves. Now we are constantly trying to search for significance and security to fill a void that only God can fulfill. That is why people buy into this idea of Expressive Individualism.  

For Christians, however, we are called to something much greater than this.  Until we are given a new heart, we cannot be our truest selves.  Until we plead the blood of Christ and repent of our sins, we will buy into many of the lies that our culture says will fulfill us. The reality is that Christ calls us to be our truest selves, but this comes by denying ourselves and following Christ.  To really find your life is to lose it for the sake of Christ. God does call us to our truest selves, but it comes by following Christ and being conformed to Him by His Holy Spirit. 

For my brothers and sisters in Christ, I want to urge you not to be a part of this “affirming sin” culture.  Many people think they love their neighbors when they affirm their neighbors’ desire to “follow their heart,” when the reality is they are endorsing their  neighbors’ continuing to live in sin. When a friend expresses his sinful desires to a society that is supposed to affirm him for “being real,” I encourage you to truly love him by urging him to repentance.  Be people of gentleness.  Be people who love holiness and hate sin because it is Christ who paid our sin debt and made us holy.  Use these opportunities not simply to give moral lessons but to proclaim the everlasting gospel.  Moral lessons don’t change hearts.  Only the gospel of Jesus Christ does that.  Give them something real.  Give them something authentic.  Give them the gospel. 

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