Let’s keep it real. Authenticity has become quite the buzzword. In a world full of fake, artificial, and hypocritical, real is refreshing. We deal with fake news, manipulative ads, artificial sweeteners, and hypocritical people. We want authenticity. Someone who will just tell it as it is. Shoot straight. Be real. But like walking a cat, authenticity needs a leash. In the same way a gun safety course is wise to complete before owning a firearm, people need some counsel before attempting to be authentic. You can’t just unbox it and start pointing your authenticity anywhere you want. There is a proper way to handle it. Don’t get me wrong, authenticity is an honorable trait for sure, but even a friendly dog might bite if you pull its tail. We can’t just be authentic like the wild, wild west. We need to learn how to be authentic.

Perhaps we are valuing authenticity without lessons on how to keep it real. Or maybe we are completely overvaluing how real we should be keeping it. Being inauthentic can be seen as one of the worst sins someone could commit. You’ve got to be you, the real you. But at the risk of both violating my own point and making it, let me be real for a second. The real you is not that great and should not be given free rein to wander wherever. All your real thoughts and opinions don’t need to be let out to interact with others. In fact, the real you might think and feel things that need to be stopped in the tracks of your brainwaves and beat to death before it ever finds its way out into the world.

Here’s my point: Saying everything you think or feel in the name of “keeping it real” is foolish. We see this in Proverbs 29:11, “A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.”

Our spirit should not be fully vented, it should be filtered. Authenticity does not give permission to sin, or to express wrong or unhelpful thoughts and emotions. Arrogance says, all my opinions need to be shared. To not say something you’re thinking or feeling does not mean you're being inauthentic. According to Proverbs 29:11, you're being wise. And to say everything you are thinking or feeling is not to be authentic, but foolish.

Here’s the call. Don’t keep it real, keep it Christian. Be authentic to the call to be conformed into the image of Christ. Which means being less real to yourself and more obedient to Jesus. And in wisdom that will involve quietly holding back a lot of what is going on inside, filtering it through the word of God. Not letting any corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear (Ephesians 4:29).