The “You Do You” Mentality
THE SELF-DECEPTION OF HUMAN NATURE
Imagine this: you have been offered a ticket to board a plane that is going on a one-way trip to paradise. There is no financial cost to go on the trip, and you actually didn’t even do anything to earn your invitation. But when you arrive at the airport and are mere seconds away from boarding the plane, you read a sign that says something unappealing enough to make you turn around and go home: “PRICE OF ADMISSION: DEATH TO SELF.”
This plane ticket example is a very rudimentary analogy of what we are all offered by God through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ: a free invitation to salvation and an eternity spent with Him in heaven. This is possible because Jesus lived a sinless life and died in order to purchase us to be His own people.1 That’s right—you were intentionally purchased by Jesus.
That all sounds great, but what’s the catch?
There isn’t a “catch” on God’s end, but for us, it’s this: our sinful human nature makes us self-driven, self-worshipping, and self-centered. This is why a “You do you” mindset is so appealing to us. The cousins of the phrase “You do you” are expressions like “Follow your heart,” “Be true to yourself,” and “Love yourself.” Adopting these mentalities is tricky business for Christians. Listening to our hearts and following our self-motivated desires is deeply rooted within us because it is part of our old, original nature.
Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The human heart is most deceitful and desperately wicked” (NLT). This verse warns us that putting our personal desires and plans for our lives above God’s plans is a futile effort because we will always choose selfishly. Instead, we are called to adopt the mindset presented in Philippians 3:8 that counts everything as worthless garbage when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus.
LISTENING TO YOUR OWN HEART AND FOLLOWING
YOUR OWN SELF-MOTIVATED DESIRES ARE SOME OF
THE MOST UNWISE THINGS A CHRISTIAN CAN DO.
This is an incredibly intimidating concept for our minds to understand, but there is hope for the Christian. We are told that, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there” (Galatians 5:24, NLT). We don’t follow a God who will leave us for dead; we follow a God that is constantly working in us and giving us the desire to obey Him.2
Waiting in line only to read the dreaded “price of admission” sign is scary until you hear what is waiting for you at the plane’s destination. Jesus says that, “If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life” (Matthew 16:25, NLT). When we are able to trade our self-serving mindsets for one that strives to follow Jesus and put Him first, it’s only the beginning of what promises to be an amazing journey.
1 Ephesians 1:14, 2 Philippians 2:13