It’s become almost impossible to speak one’s mind without offending someone, somewhere. When did we get so sensitive to every nuanced word? Most of the time, our words are being misconstrued.
We meant what we said and not what the person hearing it decided it meant.
It’s near impossible to use a personal pronoun today. If someone is male or female, one would think you could say he or she. But, no, not today. I think the proper pronoun these days is “they”.
Now, mind you, you are using a plural form even when speaking about a single individual. Somewhere, somehow, grammar was sacrificed on the altar of sensitivity to social issues.
It’s difficult for individuals, like me, who grew up when a person was known to be a singular individual. Unless, of course, the person suffered from multiple personality disorder.
In a way, that is what is happening but on a global scale. People now get to self-identify as to who or even what they consider themselves to be.
For many, the idea of being who they were born to be is simply abhorrent. While they prefer to think that what they were born as was a mistake, it seems to me that it could that they are suffering from self-hatred.
Rather than look to the cause of what is making them so unhappy, they choose to self-identify as something else. For a short term, that may seem to make them happy. They get to leave behind the parts of themselves that they don’t care for.
The problem is that part of them is still right there. It doesn’t go away because you have created a new persona for yourself. It will catch back up with you and you will begin the cycle over again.
That’s how it is with sin. And don’t fool yourself into thinking that this self-hatred is rooted in anything other than sin. We want so much to be better than we are, so we blame the results rather than the cause.
Chasing a new life, free from unhappiness with yourself, will continue on and one until you die. There is no way of changing yourself that will make you better.
There is no way of self-identifying as something else that will wash all of the evilness and unhappiness you live with.
There is only one way to become clean during this lifetime. That is to look to your Creator and Savior who came to this earth to take on your punishment for sin. It is only, through his actions, that we can actually become more than we ever were before.
Keep in mind that we are still sinners and accepting Jesus Christ does not instantly do away with your ability to sin. What it does is make you free from the guilt and punishment. The self-hatred that has plagued you can be given to him to carry.
The Bible tells you that you are a child of God. There can be nothing higher for we humans to attain. Our identity is rooted in that truth.
In becoming a Christ-follower, you do receive a new identity. Or rather, your full identity as a creation of God will be revealed.
You will never need to change your identity again. In God’s eyes, you were made wonderfully just as you are. He had a plan for you from the beginning of the Creation. He created you and was with you while you were being formed.
He made you and he does not make mistakes. You are just who you are supposed to be. Look to God to mold you into a better person as you walk with him each day.
Rather than trying to change your pronoun, try changing your relationship with Jesus Christ. He will show you that you are beautiful and loved by God just as you are. He knows that you sin and he understands how much you have come to hate yourself.
He will give you a new perspective on life. He will help you to understand how much he loves you. If God loves you so much he would die for you, you must be something really wonderful in his sight.
Don’t try to change the outward you. Look to the inside of your heart and make the changes there that will have true and lasting value in life.
Psalm 139:13-16
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.