As news started to break last week that I sat for (and passed!) my Doctoral defence, the question I heard over and over again was, “Why didn’t you tell us your exam was this week?” and this, “Why didn’t you tell me, I would have prayed.”

As I thought about the question I came to a sobering discovery.

I would respond to the question by saying something like: “Oh, it’s not a big deal,” or “I didn’t think anyone would care,” or “I didn’t want to bother anyone with it.” But in actual fact the real reason I didn’t tell anyone was because I was afraid of what people would think if I didn’t pass.

The sobering part was this… instead of focusing on the truth that God would hear the prayers of these prayer warriors and divinely intervene in my life, I focused on my own insecurities and the fear of being judged.

So, let me tell you, that when I spoke about being authentic in a selfie-centered world on Sunday, I was preaching to me!

There is no doubt that in today’s society we have a tendency to focus more on outward appearances than on the inward condition of our hearts.

For avid social media users, you know what I mean. We post the perfect, filtered picture with a clever (but not too clever) hash tag and then we wait. How many followers? How many likes? We may show the world a smile on our face on the outside, but on the inside our heart may be achingand our soul may be pleading for someone to care enough about us to speak with God on our behalf.

Sometimes it is easier to pray for the needs of others, than it is to humble ourselves and ask someone pray for us.

The truth is that we need to be confident enough in our faith to allow others to pray for us and as we do we glorify Christ through our lives.

As we strive to attain the character of Christ, we need to be willing to expose our weaknesses, shed our hypocrisy and stop pretending that our life is all sunshine and gumdrops.

God calls us to be transparent and authentic because our identity is not in how many followers we have on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Our identity is in Who we are following, and we are following the Lord God.

On Sunday we talked about the Apostle Paul speaking to the people of Corinth (2 Corinthians 3:13-18) telling them about Moses (check out Exodus 34 in the Old Testament) and how he put on a veil over his face to keep the people from seeing that the Glory of God (that shone when he first came down from Mount Sinai) was now fading

Paul says to the people, “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory; which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)).

How do we get unveiled faces? Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:16 says: “whenever anyone turns to the Lord the veil is taken away.”

When we turn to God, the veil is taken away and we — with unveiled faces —are being transformed into the image of Christ, not for the approval of people, but for the glory of God!

Join us this Sunday as we continue our series called #Selfie! You won't want to miss it. Be sure to invite a friend.