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“Follow your heart.” “Live your truth.” “Be true to yourself.” These statements are all well-accepted guidance in our individualistic culture, but do they really lead to happiness and fulfillment? That’s the question raised by Trevin Wax in his recent book Rethink Yourself and the topic of this our conversation.
Trevin Wax is senior vice president for Theology and Communications at LifeWay Christian Resources. A former missionary to Romania, Trevin is a regular columnist at The Gospel Coalition and has contributed to The Washington Post, Religion News Service, World, and Christianity Today. He is the author of a number of books, including Rethink Yourself, The Multi-Directional Leader, Gospel-Centered Teacher and Counterfeit Gospels.
Key Takeaways:
- Trevin unpacks expressive individualism/personal autonomy and sets out a 3-step plan for church leaders to creatively critique these beliefs and explains why the gospel is the real solution to our deepest longings.
- Three basic approaches to identity: look in, look around and look up–and why looking up is the best approach.
- Why we need to tell and model a greater story than secular culture, and why proclaiming and living out the gospel is the greatest adventure.
- Practical ways to show our culture this truth.
- Why personal autonomy complicates Christian citizenship and underlies the most controversial political issues of the day. Great thought from Trevin: If you live in a culture in which the greatest command is to “be true to yourself,” then the second is to affirm the self your neighbor decides to be true to. The greatest sin, therefore, is to fail to affirm that self. And that is why Christians are increasingly considered “sinners” in our society.
- A thoughtful approach for breaking out of the echo chamber.
- How Christians should engage culture and especially the LGBTQ movement in light of these developments.
Connect with Trevin on Twitter: @TrevinWax