This frees us to admit that we will never be good enough on our own, and this fact does not surprise us. We don’t have to be clothed in rags but can rest secure in the robe of righteousness purchased by our perfect sacrifice. The gospel is good news, because, our salvation is not dependent on our fig leaves of goodness but is wholly anchored on the goodness of another-the perfect Saviour, Jesus Christ. And so it does.” Clothed with Jesus' Righteouness Such a garment would be always falling apart. Imagine for a moment trying to make do with an actual garment of fig leaves for clothing. Your desperate need for approval is a fig leaf… There are desperate efforts to deal with the sense of unacceptability-of unlovability-we all have. Your holding on to your youth is a fig leaf. Keller concludes on the flimsiness of these fig leaves, writing, “These are fig leaves. Perhaps, this is why some of us work so hard and find it hard to rest? Perhaps this is why some of us are unable to say no to people and find ourselves stretched? Perhaps this is why others are afraid of friendships and relationships-because people may be disappointed by what they find when they know us? Maybe some think that you can't be a Christian because you’re not good enough? Our worse fears come true if our assessment of ourselves are correct, and we are all we have. We know we are not good enough, and devote our time, energies and effort to try to quell this unease and squash it. It has been the struggle of all humankind since the beginning of time, since sin entered the world with Adam and Eve, and we won’t be the last generation wrestling with this. Indeed, this is a relatable struggle for all of us, regardless of age, gender, race, nationality etc. That’s the reason we cannot bear to let somebody see us as we really are… We spend all our lives finding ways to cover up that deep, radical sense of inadequacy.” There’s something inadequate about me-I’m not what I ought to be. He goes on, “Nakedness is a deep sense that there’s something wrong with me, something imperfect about me. We are not proud of who we are 'in the raw,' and so we desperately look for ways to cover up and to curate a flawless image. He explains man's inherent need for forgiveness: “We cannot bear to have people get an unfiltered, out-of-control look at who we really are. Timothy Keller, in his book titled Forgive, has a chapter on our need for forgiveness. But behind that shiny veneer lies many insecurities and fears. In a social media age, a technological savvy generation has the option to curate our lives and choose to present only our best selves online. Since the fall, we’ve all been trying to cover ourselves with fig leaves. And even the best of us, when we are quiet and left alone with our thoughts, are afraid of our sins being found out. Others wonder about whether they qualified for a new task or phase in life-a new job, marriage, parenthood, retirement etc. Some worry about it at appraisal when performance review rolls around. We all struggle with some form of self-doubt and fear of being found out throughout our lives. We may now just be able to give a name to what many, if not all, of us struggle with. The term “imposter syndrome” has crept into popular culture, and according to the dictionary definition, it refers to a persistent doubt regarding one’s abilities or accomplishments and a fear of being exposed as a fraud.īut this is not unique to the current generation. It might interest you.Bibianna asks if we are covering ourselves with fig leaves and points us to Christ, whose robe of righteousness we can rest secure in. You’ll finally reach your potential because the limits you put on yourself in your mind get washed away by reality. Besides, it will also make you turn into the best version of yourself. That’s why when guilt appears in your life along with doubt and insecurity, focusing on the present, on what is real, will help you beat it. And so we prove that our self-confidence can take us far, but that a lack of it anchors us to constant negative self-evaluation, directed at the things we could do. Thus we root ourselves in the possibility of a gloomy future that is not real, despite how we act. This is where our self-image gets blurry in a whole mess of fears that reflect not what we are, but rather what we fear to be. We lose our emotional balance and let a hostile environment grow inside. When we’re insecure, we lose our foothold, our self-confidence. It chains us down, because we’re afraid of failing down again if we try again. Then insecurity shows its face, making us doubt ourselves and our actions.
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