Does Jesus HATE your PERSONALITY? (part 1)

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." 
Luke 9:23 NIV

Now by the words above, does Jesus mean you can't "be yourself" and be his follower at the same time?

Does he mean that you must deny your "personality?"

Or does he like some "personality types" better than others?

In fact, what was Jesus' "personality type?"

The impression I get when I read the Bible is that there were many a variety of personalities in Biblical history.  But it didn't seem to be focused upon them  Not really.  In other words, the Bible doesn't seem to make a very big deal about "being yourself," being "true to yourself," "finding yourself," "loving yourself," "self-esteem/worth/value," etc. 

For sure, we are to "love our neighbors as ourselves," so it ASSUMES that we love ourselves, and that we know how to love ourselves.  It also assumes that there is nothing wrong with basic self-love. 

But as C.S. Lewis pointed out in his essay, "Christian Literature," the Christian focus is not on "being yourself," but rather being like Christ, and in being like Christ, one's individuality comes naturally and unexpectedly.  Christ put it this way,


"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it."

As C.S. Lewis points out once again, when a person forgets about being "unique," or "making an impression," they actually stumble upon uniqueness and make a good impression.  Christ commanded his followers to deny themselves in the sense of self-centeredness, or living according to and for their own will, honor, and pleasure ALONE.  In other words, the will, honor, and pleasure of Christ were to be supreme;  and the will, honor, and pleasure of one's neighbor were to be seen as equal to one's own, even considered ABOVE one's own.

So the issue is not self-love or even self-hatred.  It is not about being ourselves, or not being ourselves.  It's about a kind of self-forgetfulness that comes from a greater purpose:  God's knowledge and likeness. 

Think of like this.

When you are really into someone, totally absorbed in how wonderful he or she is, you forget about yourself for the time being because you are so focused on how wonderful the person is.

This is how it should be in our love for God, and how it will be when we really encounter Him.  God is so beyond beautiful that we forget about ourselves when we are with Him.

Now in seeing Him, we want to be like Him, and in wanting to be like Him we are actually truly ourselves.  Even in imitating Him we find uniqueness without seeking it, losing self-consciousness and gaining the liberation of selfless self-expression.