"Who You Aren't Isn't Interesting"

“Who you aren’t isn’t interesting” this is a quote I heard while attending an event called “Two Days With Rob”. Yes it is Rob Bell that I am referring to. If that is going to make you write off this blog then I pray you are healed. 

This quote really has gotten me thinking quite a bit lately. I posted this quote on the “That’s Not My God” timeline on Oct. 26th and mentioned that the blog explaining this quote would be up soon. So here it is.

At first when you hear this quote it may throw you a curveball as it is one that makes you think twice. It is not a cliche corny phrase like “Let go and let God”. Those kind of quotes and sayings are like an old Chris Farley movie...you can turn your brain off and know what it is saying. This quote, however, throws your brain into quite a cerebral tizzy. It sounds oh so good and true but yet somehow in the church world we need to be an ever changing being that never really truly measures up but somehow we keep striving to be PERFECT. Enter Christian burnout and abandonment. 

Whether it is coming to grips with who you are, opening yourself up to a friendship, etc. I simply am not impressed with who you are not. This would be like me applying for a new church position somewhere and say I have surfed with Rob Bell (though I was on the beach and my wife surfed), I sat under his tutelage, Ted Haggard and I are regular buds that hang out often and we share ideas with each other, Carman and I are buds (I got my picture with him once)....it is all non-sense. Rob Bell and I are acquaintances but we don’t “hang out”. Ted Haggard and I do not get together every day even though we are friends and no Carman does not know who I am. This is what it is like for people to embellish a story so that they may gain favor and become someone they really are not. How many times have you heard someone say they speak at summer camps when in fact it is one time? When people paint a false picture of themselves or embellish the story it will ALWAYS turn out with people becoming disappointed. It is almost like lying on a resume to get a job, only this is with friends.

Who you truly are is what really matters and makes you interesting. We read in 2 Corinthians 11:30 “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.”  Why? Because when people see you for who you really are no one is disappointed later.  When I sit down with someone I want to know the good the bad and the ugly. Why? Because there is that side of me as well. Why did Paul make this statement in 2 Corinthians? He was a very scholarly man who knew the Torah inside and out and perhaps with the reputation he had it made him very unapproachable. By being transparent in this way perhaps this opened the door for others to conversate to him about what is going on in their life. After all he did say quite often “Grace and Peace to you”. 

“Who are you aren’t isn’t interesting.” Who are you?