The Appearance of Things
I’m not sure if it’s made Webster’s dictionary yet, but by popular demand, our culture has embraced “Instagram vs. Reality.” We playfully acknowledge that the way we choose to present ourselves online is often embellished compared to how we actually feel inside. Which seems odd, doesn’t it?
And then there’s me over here literally paying money to do just that. Oh my!
Is it for ‘likes’ ? - a sense of acceptance or popularity to comfort our insecurities? For ‘influence’ - a hope of feeling important and successful? I mean even our speech is ‘dressed up’ in order to smooth our edges and avoid offending. But then there’s this other, competing side of us, like a caged animal seeing the wild, that yearns to be known, to be real, to be free!
I can attest from my years in ministry that it’s a hot-button issue: should we do something in the most organic way possible for the sake of authenticity, or should we do it in a more organized way with the hope of reaching more people?
And therein lies the key.
If I win someone over, is it so that I can win, or they can win?
If I perform, is it to hide what’s behind the curtain, or to delight others?
If I dress up, is it for me to feel important - or for them to feel important?
Nonetheless, the debate remains whether well-meaning posturing - if it’s even possible - is better or worse than the simple, raw, unedited self. And as I’ve begun this journey of online presence, I must say, it’s not a choice to make at all.
There is jeremybiar.com, and then there is me, Jeremy Biar. There is BIAR Legacy, and then there is my actual Biar family lineage. In church, there is branding and lighting and preaching and facilities and music, and then there’s the state of each individual heart’s response to the commands of Jesus.
Hopefully, how I present things is reflective of who I am. But I will never become jeremybiar.com - none of us are our words or our clothes or our performance.
For whatever reason, though, we would rather look at pretty things than ugly things. We would rather give our attention to interesting things than boring things. I would rather smell the candles my brother got me for Christmas last year than my son’s diaper I changed this morning. It’s not so much right or wrong. It’s just that sometimes we like the good feeling of nice packaging more than we like the actual product. And if you’re asking me, I think you should have your box, and open it, too :)