Who We Really Are

Oh the selfie. My generation truly has a love-hate relationship with this photo genre. I can't say I'm a huge fan though I am guilty of taking a few...but I digress. You really don't care about my selfie habits, nor should you!

My favorite popsicle is back for the summer! Definitely deserves a selfie ;)

My relationship with the selfie has been evolving during my time in Japan. This is mostly due to the Japanese obsession with image and portrayal and the incredible shallowness that is built up through this preoccupation. The more contact I have with this culture and its habits the more God has shown me how these things reveal such a need for the gospel.

Even without living here an extended amount of time, you would come to realize the Japanese love their photos. IPhones, photobooths, tiny toy cameras, giant professional-grade point and shoots, photo-capturing devices are everywhere.

Nearly everyone is a photographer in some way. The culture is obsessed with capturing moments that declare one's economic well-being or social desirability. My facebook newsfeed is always filled with artistically framed photos of food at all the cafes my friends visit or cutesy selfies in said cafes with their friends. Everything must be captured so it can be held onto as something that happened, something tangible that gives value and identity.

I've experienced another aspect of that pursuit of identity firsthand when sharing on campus. Countless times after a conversation, my new friends will ask to take a photo to commemorate our time together. It's a fun idea- I love that they are so eager about the start of our friendship. And I love the concept of recording even more mundane moments throughout the day. But it also makes me sad because it glosses over a very deep need for real love and acceptance. I wonder how many pictures are taken of empty, hollow relationships. How many of these images record real experiences shared with real people.

It has forced me to really look into my own heart as well. In particular, this year I joined the world of Instagram and was inundated with a whole new world of images, perfectly filtered and cropped to portray everyone's beautiful, fulfilling lives. Based on my own life, I'm fairly certain a lot of these Instagram feeds don't tell the whole story. Usually they don't document the sickness, the arguments, the darkness, the loneliness. Even chaos is carefully orchestrated and artistically arranged. It reminds me again of something in Japanese culture- purikura, or photo booths. Popular especially among tween and teen girls, purikura allows you to give yourself bigger eyes, lighter skin, longer and thinner legs. Lips are rosier, eyelashes longer- nothing is as it appears. Like Japanese girls airbrushing themselves into oblivion in the photobooths, things like Instagram allow us to shape and cultivate our image and choose what the world knows about us.

As a female, heck as a person, I understand why Japan is obsessed with image. Facing this temptation myself everyday, I get it.

I get it, but I also have truth to combat the obsession. Inundated with advertisements on trains, billboards, pamphlets, I also fight to remind myself daily that my identity rests solely in the Lord. It breaks my heart to think of how many people here don't know their true identity. The reason they take all these photos, manipulate themselves with photoshop, frantically document every little thing, is because they're seeking affirmation. They want to be known and loved and accepted. They cling to their image because that is where they find their worth. What a tragic and impossible lifestyle!

God reminds us of our identity countless times throughout the Bible. To the Israelites in Exodus 20 he reminds them that he is their God who brought them out of slavery. Therefore they belong to God and are free. 1 Peter 2:9 tells us we are a chosen people, a holy nation, a people belonging to God. 2 Corinthians 5:17 declares us to be new creations in Christ Jesus. The list goes on. And all are true of us, for all eternity, just because God said so.

We don't have to impress God with our popularity or looks. When he looks at us he sees Christ, perfect, righteous, holy, beautiful. We are his children, dearly loved and more precious than gold. Why would we taint that with our proctored selfies or shallow albums full of all the lattes we've consumed? How do those things affect who we are on the inside?

The truth is they don't. They have no power. That is where Japan is so misled, why there is such a desperate need for the gospel. It is the gospel alone that perfectly, wholly gives people purpose and meaning. The gospel redefines who we are and brings fulfillment in the process. No amount of selfies or likes on Instagram is ever going to bring the kind of eternal satisfaction that comes from being completely confident with who we are in Christ.