Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.
Proverbs 3: 5
Over the last few months, I’ve heard a certain phrase used repeatedly, “You do you!” It is often stated with such emphasis as though to convince the hearer of its ultimate wisdom and truth. On the one hand, God created you to be unique, no one else is like you, so go ahead and be you. However, the modern take on this phrase goes further, it gives one the license to be a free spirit, no matter where that spirit takes one. In other words, in this modern era, people are free to be and do whatever pleases them. Whatever feels good to you, go ahead and do it. However you want to show up in the world, go ahead and be it. No one has a right to an opinion concerning your lifestyle because it is your life. On the surface, this is a tempting proposition. It appears almost harmless with everyone living in perfect, non-judgmental harmony in one big tent, but the believer cannot afford this luxury. The believer is someone set apart for Christ. The believer is the student, and the Holy Spirit, the teacher. The believer must always care about what God thinks. His Word is the ultimate compass and he is the sole and ultimate judge.
The writer of the Book of Proverbs offers a different philosophy. He says, “Trust in the LORD with your whole heart, and do not rely on your own insight (Proverbs 3:5). Without a compass, the ship is likely to run adrift on the ocean. Without the white and yellow markings on roads, traffic would be completely chaotic, and without a guiding standard of being, and conduct, we (humans) would become completely unmoored. We do not have to look far to find evidence of this chaos in our culture today.
How confident would you feel, if the pilot decided to rely on his own insight to fly a plane? No one in their right mind would get on that flight because they would not be confident of getting to their destination safely. Yet this is exactly what we end up doing every time we buy into the “You do you!” philosophy. We become unmoored and surrender our spiritual destiny into the hands of an untrained free spirit. And the writer of Proverbs is quick to caution, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death (Proverbs 14:12).
Dear friend, why take the risk? Why roll the dice on your eternal destiny? Paul tells the Philippian Church to be obedient to God, and to be light bearers to the world by working out their “own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12b).” No one has it all figured out. We are all in the process of becoming. So please, “Do NOT do you!” Surrender to God and let him work in you to will and to do for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). As Ruth Caye Jones, wrote in her famous hymn, titled In Times Like These, “Be very sure, be very sure your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock.
Loving and Gracious God, thank you for assuring my salvation through the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. Now give me the wisdom to accept your mercy and grace freely given through the truth of your word. Protect me and others like me, from the false ideologies of this world. Make me a light bearer for your good pleasure. Amen.