I must love the Poser (Posers, Fakers, and Wannabes: Part III)

When I minister to others, I think I am pretty gracious. I am generally able to approach situations with a level head, without judging. I try to listen as well as I can, and try to direct that person toward Christ in my counsel. I say this not to toot my own proverbial horn, but to point out (yet another) inherent contradiction in myself.

There it was, in bold print, jumping off the page:

“It’s time to call The Poser out of hiding, accept him, embrace him, and bring him to Jesus.”

Why is it that I have never looked at my own development in these terms? Whenever I talk about discipleship, I say that the most important part is to point that person to Jesus. Don’t pretend to have all the answers, but let God work in that person’s life. I’ve followed that advice to an extent, but I’ve never extended that invitation to myself. Manning quotes Carl Jung:

“What I do unto the least of my brethren, that I do unto Christ. But what if I should discover that the least amongst them all, the poorest of all the beggars, the most impudent of all the offenders, the very enemy himself—that these are within me, and that I myself stand in need of the alms of my own kindness—that I myself am the enemy who must be loved—what then?”

Am I ‘the least of these brethren?’ (Matthew 25). Judging from what I have discovered lately, I think I am, at least in some sense of the term. Have I forgotten that Christ loves the Poser? I have no problem believing that Jesus loves others in spite of their sins, because I can say it and not have to own it. Each person must own that truth in their own life.

Perhaps if I truly believe that Christ loves me—all of me, Poser and all—then I should be able to love myself. I fear that self-love leads to pride, but is it not true that self-love is necessary to conquer pride?

Humility has many definitions, but at its core, it is seeing ourselves just as God sees us. Well, God loves me, so for me to be truly humble, I need to love me too. Humility requires that I love myself—exactly the way I am and too much to let me stay like this—and too much to let the Poser continue to rule my thoughts and actions.

I love the Poser.

A few weeks ago, those words would have looked crooked to me. Now they speak hope into my being. So do these:

Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.