Be Real

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

John 1:45-54 (NKJV)

If there’s one thing we can see from Nathanael’s blunt response, it was that he did not sugarcoat things just to make them palatable for others. Nathanael was real.

Nathanael chose not to be politically correct or culturally accommodating or socially acceptable. He chose to nurture in his life what might not make him hugely popular, but what surely made Jesus impressed. And that was: Nathanael chose to live real.

In my estimation, living real provides ideal soil conditions for the seed of the Word of God. It saves so much time when it comes to editing and sharpening opinions and impressions. It makes conversations so much more robust and productive, substantive and constructive.

Nathanael had chosen to be real and he nurtured it. No matter what the topic was, Nathanael approached it by just being real.

I want to develop a character that matches what Jesus said about Nathanael. I want to trust that I am, if nothing else, at least being my real me. I want to steward a character that would be described by the Lord in a way that reflects I've learned to be safe being the real me. It’s been said, “Be yourself, not your idea of what you think somebody else's idea of yourself should be.”

I suspect that all of us have at times given up the real us for some adjusted, scripted, altered version of ourselves that has us managing exchanges that are awkward, painful, uncomfortable, stressful, and that feel oppressive and restrictive. These times can make you start disliking yourself for having given in to a lesser version of yourself. But our text teaches that all Jesus wants for and from your life is that you become comfortable living real.

We all need to honor God's presence in our lives by living committed to discovering, owning, and nurturing the real us.