The buzz lately is Tyra Banks.

The Next Top Model beauty and host posted a picture of herself in the morning without any make up.

Without filter.

Without touch up.

I’ve done that a time or two.

Posted a picture of me without make up but I’m not known for my beauty.

A few years ago, country singer Sara Evans posted a bare-faced photograph.

Her hair was fixed and she liked it, wanted to snap a photo.

She bravely ignored the fact she had no make up.

The pic went viral.

It got me thinking.

Why post a photo when we’re not looking our best.

I know Facebook is a photo album of images of me I’m not so keen on. Snapped by others, in the moment.

But for those in the public eye, there has to be some underlying desire for people to know the “real me.”

I get it.

“If you love me, love all of me.”

It’s ingrained in the human heart to want to be loved for who we are, not what we look like, not what we can do or say or be.

God gave us from the get go the desire for authenticity. But also for glory and beauty.

Because all of those things ARE at the core of who He is!

And we are made in His image.

So more than wanting people to see my bare naked face, I want people to see my bare-naked heart.

This is who I am on the good days and the bad.

Trouble is, people don’t often want to know the “real me.”

Or they just don’t have time to listen. Understand.

I blogged about my menopause experience last year because I never felt more raw, real, and like I wanted people to know the really me… in that season.

Because I needed someone to say, “Hey, you’ll get through this. You’re fine.”

Sometimes, it’s as simple as that, no?

The voice of reassurance.

As a writer, I can’t always wait for, depend on, reassurance from others.

I just have to go! Do! Be what I’m called to be.

Yet, as I ponder authenticity, I realize I have to be the really real to my own self.

Like, am I shepherding my heart toward a good place?

Am I becoming someone with a sincere heart?

Am I learning more and more who Jesus is and who He wants me to be?

I’m challenged to grow in the Love of the Father. In the love that sent Jesus to the Cross for me.

I think too often, I cover my imperfections and deficiencies with “make up.”

I love being honest. I do! And I understand there’s a right time and place, the right audience to be honest.

But hiding away never much interested me.

All the more motivation to be authentic.

To be the really real me.

What about you? Are you ready to be the really real you?

What does that look like? What steps can you take?

For me, it begins and ends int he same place every time.

At the feet of Jesus.

In a world that is hungering for sincerity and truth, authenticity, Christians must rise to the occasion and be real.

Anyone can post a photo of themselves without make up and hey, it takes great courage.

But don’t we really just long for someone who knows us with all of our faults and insecurities and flaws.

Because we are so loved by the Father, the Church is the ONE place where authenticity should flow.

Where a hurting soul finds healing.

Let’s take off the masks, beloved, and be the really real us, the really real Jesus. As best we can.

He’ll take care of the rest.

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