CoSMI - 1.0.1.08 - Authenticity - Know Yourself - introspection

CoSMI - 1.0.1.08 - Authenticity - Know Yourself - introspection

Psalm 139:14

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

I have suggested the simplest aspect of getting to know yourself, that of just sitting with yourself, in silence.  And, I suppose, I have suggested the next step, for some; that of not being afraid of just sitting with yourself in the silence.

But, of course, this may not give you all the answers you need.  As a matter of fact, it's pretty much guaranteed that it will not give you all the answers that you need.  So you need to do some introspection.  Introspection is the more analytical part of sitting alone with yourself.  You start to ask yourself the same questions as I suggested that you ask your family and friends.  What type of person am I?  What is it that I am afraid of?  What is it that brings me joy?  What is it that I want?  And don't be afraid that you'll mess things up if you ask yourself "what do I want right now."  Like sitting with yourself in silence, introspection takes time, and practice, and it will take many sessions before you really start to see that you were getting some benefit out of it.  I don't want to scare you off, but it may actually take years.

But once you start, you will find that you do start to get some answers.  And then you question those answers.  What is it that brings me joy?  How do I achieve that joy?  What do I need to do in order to make it possible, more often, to obtain that Joy?  And so forth.

All of this; the silence, sitting in silence, getting away from the distractions of the world, not being afraid of the silence, asking your family and friends, and introspection; is intended to allow you to start to know yourself.  As was pointed out earlier, knowing yourself is essential to authenticity, and ensuring that you remain authentic in your postings as a social media influencer.

Depending upon how far along on your own prospective path, and journey to knowing yourself; and also depending upon how far along in developing your own prayer life, you may find that this practice of introspection becomes a part of your prayer life.  While you are asking questions of yourself, and about yourself, you may find that you are asking God for answers to the same questions.  You may also find that you are asking God how God would have you change and develop.  This is quite okay.  You may also find similar things happen during your Bible study, where a verse will "jump out" and speak to you, your character, or your activities.

But this is only the first and simplest step.  There are other, more formal steps that you can take in order to know more about yourself, and therefore ensuring that you remain authentic.  We'll suggest a couple of them.

CoSMI series:

Previous: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2026/05/cosmi-10107-authenticity-know-yourself.html

Introduction and ToC: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2026/05/cosmi-00100-introduction-and-table-of.html

Next: TBA

CoSMI - 1.0.1.07 - Authenticity - Know Yourself - friends

CoSMI - 1.0.1.07 - Authenticity - Know Yourself - friends

Proverbs 17:17

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.

But you don't have to rely entirely upon yourself.  You don't have to sit in silence forever, waiting to figure yourself out.  There are people who can help you.

Your family.  Your friends.

Ask them.  Now, I say "them," advisedly.  Don't just ask one friend.  Ask multiple friends.  Ask your friends who you are.  Ask your family who you are.  Friends may be slightly more reliable than family.  Family, in particular parents, pretty automatically have certain things that they want you to be.  They may be aware of this, and they may fight against it, but they do have things that they would prefer that you be, rather than certain other things.  Sometimes your family, and even your parents, can fight their way past their expectations, and give you an honest assessment.  So ask them.  Take their answers with a little bit of salt, but they are the people who know you best: who live with you for the most time.

So ask your family and friends.  Ask acquaintances.  Ask people who have only known you for a short time, and ask them what kind of a first impression you make.  Since you intend to be an influencer on social media, there are going to be an awful lot of people who encounter you for the first time, and it's very valuable to know how you come across to people who don't know you very well.

Ask if you are a serious person.  If you are a funny person.  If you are a thoughtful person.  If you are a reliable person.  Ask all of these questions about yourself.  About how other people see you.  (I should note that this should not be the only topic of conversation: you should ask about the other person for a good amount of the time that you spent talking with them.  It's only fair.)

If you have aspirations to be an influencer, you probably have some idea of what an influencer should be.  And you probably hope that you have some of the characteristics of an influencer.  So there are things that you hope that you are, that your friends may not identify in you.  In fact, they may say that, no, this characteristic that you consider to be very important for an influencer is not present in your character at all.

Do not panic.  And, in terms of panicking, do not immediately try to create this characteristic within yourself.  Do not try to learn how to present yourself in such a way that it appears that you have this characteristic, whether you have this characteristic or not.  That is not going to be successful.  There is the old joke about sincerity being vitally important, and once you can fake sincerity you've got it made.  But it's a joke.  It is not career advice.

The thing is, if you don't have that characteristic, well, you don't have that characteristic.  There is no point in trying to fake it.  If you do try to fake it, you will come across as inauthentic.  It may take a while for people to see through you, but, the longer it takes, the more they will turn against you when they finally realize that you have, essentially, been lying to them all along.  So don't try to fake it.

But the other part of not panicking is, you may be wrong.  You may be wrong in that this characteristic, that you think is vitally important to an influencer, may not be all that important at all.  It may not be a significant factor in the success of any given social media influencer.  So just keep on doing your best, and presenting yourself authentically, and your authenticity will probably outweigh the lack of whatever characteristic you think you should have, and you don't have.

The other way that you may be wrong is, well, your friends and family might be wrong.  You may have this characteristic, only not to a major extent.  You may have this characteristic as an underlying component of your personality.  And, when it becomes important, if you remain authentic, if you remain honest, and present what you know to be your true self, then that characteristic will come to the fore when it is needed.

CoSMI series:

Previous: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2026/05/cosmi-10106-authenticity-know-yourself.html

Introduction and ToC: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2026/05/cosmi-00100-introduction-and-table-of.html

Next: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2026/05/cosmi-10108-authenticity-know-yourself.html

CoSMI - 1.0.1.06 - Authenticity - Know Yourself (part 2)

CoSMI - 1.0.1.06 - Authenticity - Know Yourself (part 2)

Psalm 139:1

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.

As I say, not all of you will be afraid of this.  But, some of you might find it very frightening.  Why is it that you find the silence so frightening?

In fact, we do find silence frightening, very often.  We are used to the constant noise distraction that the world throws at us.  The police understand that silence is frightening.  This is why, when they questioning suspects, they sometimes simply sit in silence.  They know that the silence is more terrifying than any threats that they can make, and they know that, if they wait in silence, then, in order to fill the silence, the suspects may start talking, and may say a lot more than they intended to.

But this is, perhaps, a little bit distant from your situation as an influencer in social media.  So, why do you find silence so frightening?

Is it possibly because you are used to the world telling you who and what you are?  Is it possible that you are used to the fact that the world is constantly whispering who you are, what you want, what you need, and all kinds of other information.  And if that information is gone, even if it is disinformation, do you really exist?  Maybe that is the frightening question or the frightening part of the question?

If so, we can address that problem.  It isn't really a problem.  If you sit and wait, and don't allow yourself to be frightened, you will start to feel who you are.  You will start, I grant, very slowly, to feel what it is that you want, rather than what the world wants you to want.  You will start to realize your own ideas, rather than the opinions that the world would like you to have.  Don't let the initial fear terrify you.  This will pass.  Unplugged from the world, even if only for a little while, you will start to realize who you are.  You will start to know yourself.

CoSMI series:

Previous: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2026/05/cosmi-10105-authenticity-know-yourself.html

Introduction and ToC: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2026/05/cosmi-00100-introduction-and-table-of.html

Next: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2026/05/cosmi-10107-authenticity-know-yourself.html

CoSMI - 1.0.1.05 - Authenticity - Know Yourself (part 1)

CoSMI - 1.0.1.05 - Authenticity - Know Yourself (part 1)

Psalm 26:2

Test me, Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind

In the first sermon in the related series on social media influencing, I opened with an endorsement of authenticity.  And got an immediate response asking how one can be authentic on social media.

So I guess I have to back up a bit, and start earlier in the process.

To be authentic is to be true to yourself.  Which then begs the question of how to be true to yourself.  So the first step is obvious: know yourself.

At least it is obvious to *me*.  The thing is, I'm really old, and I have more than seven decades of experience at this.  Maybe it isn't obvious to those who haven't spent as long at it.  They might think that they already know themselves.  Or, they may have taken the first step, and realized that they don't really know themselves.

And you never really *do* know yourself.  Not completely.  It is a life long process.  Mostly because it is hard.  Secondly because you keep on changing, and, every time you change, you have to unlearn something about yourself that you thought was correct, and relearn the new bit.

Another reason that it is hard to know yourself is that the world keeps on blaring noise at you, and particularly about who and what you are.  And often this noise is quite wrong.  The world has reasons for feeding you this misinformation.  The world wants you to buy things, so it tells you that you need them, or want them.  Maybe you do, but very often you don't.  But the world keeps on repeating the message that you do, so it's hard to decide what is truly you.

A first step, although not necessarily *the* first step, is to cut out the noise and distractions, as much as you can.  Some people suggest that meditation is a good start, but an awful lot of the people who are promoting meditation are also trying to sell you something, so I'm going to suggest something that is even simpler.  Just sit in the quiet for a while.  Turn off the TV.  Turn off the radio.  Turn off the social media.  Turn off the ringer on your phone, or, better yet, turn off your phone for a while.  Don't be afraid of missing out: believe me, social media will still be there when you get back.

Don't think that you are going to get some kind of inspired insight on the first try.  Believe me, the first time you try this, it may terrify you.  As a matter of fact, for an inspired insight, that's not too bad.  The realization that just simply sitting, by yourself, in the quiet, without the world constantly bombarding you with messages, is terrifying.  Just think about that for a minute.  What is so frightening about that?

At any rate, this is going to take a while.  You are going to have to try it a number of times.  Each time, finding a little bit more about yourself.  How do you feel?  Why are you feeling that way?  What does this teach you about yourself?

And this is only a first step.

CoSMI series:

Introduction and ToC: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2026/05/cosmi-00100-introduction-and-table-of.html

Next: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2026/05/cosmi-10106-authenticity-know-yourself.html

CoSMI - 1.0.0.02 - Can a Christian Be an Influencer part 1

CoSMI - 1.0.0.02 - Can a Christian Be an Influencer part 1

Mark 16:15

He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation."

In trying to prepare sermons for this particular series, I have had reactions from different people that this is impossible.  It is impossible, inherently impossible, for a Christian to be an influencer.

Obviously I don't agree with this position, but I think it's important to address the points that these people have made.

Jesus said that in order to follow him, we have to deny ourselves.  Paul says to the Philippians that they should do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.  I think those who feel that it is inherently impossible for a Christian to be an influencer see influencers as primarily self-centred.  Not necessarily solely selfish, but definitely centred on themselves.  Their opinions, their reputation, their brand, and the way they present themselves to the world.  However, if that position is accurate, then it is impossible for a Christian to be an actor or a popular singer or really any position that puts them at center stage.  That would seem to include the position of a mass evangelist.  Was Billy Graham wrong in being an evangelist?  Was Mother Theresa wrong in trying to use her influence to advance the plight of the poor?

Most of us, in most denominations of Christianity, accept that we have a professional clergy and professional song leaders.  Therefore, we are having people who take center stage and do so on a regular basis and do it to the glory of God.  Gloria was a soloist.  She knew, from the age of twelve, that her voice was a gift from God and was to be used in God's service.  She frequently said that she considered God to be her booking agent.  When she was asked to sing, she always said yes.  She said that the requests came from God and that her voice was to be used in God's service.  She said that when she sang in Christian service, she always knew and felt strongly that there was at least one person in the audience who needed to hear that song.

So, can you be an influencer on social media if you are a Christian?  Can you be a Christian social media influencer, apart from trying to be a SMevangelist (social media evangelist)?

It would seem to me that we not only can, but that we must.  We are told to go into all the world and preach the gospel.  Cyberspace is now part of our world.  Social media is part of cyberspace.  Therefore, it would be not merely careless, but negligent, to abandon cyberspace to those who are either opposed to, or apathetic about, Christianity.  There is a risk to us, to our faith, and to our character, so we must take precautions.  But, if this is our calling, we must go.

There is, of course, always a danger, as there is with any aspect of life.  Vanity and conceit cannot be allowed to rule, and it would seem that pride and overconfidence are definitely dangers and sins that are not merely present in any activity on social media, but particularly the province of those who have ambitions as influencers.  Envy is definitely one of the sins that is going to be associated with social media.  Anger is also a sin that is omnipresent in our current social media platforms.  Therefore, yes, there is a great deal of danger for anyone who has any ambitions to be an influencer on social media platforms.  But, as I have said, we may be negligent if we simply concede it to those who do not wish Christianity to thrive.

CoSMI: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2026/05/cosmi-00100-introduction-and-table-of.html

CoSMI - 0.0.1.00 - introduction and table of contents

CoSMI - 0.0.1.00 - introduction and table of contents

Mark 16:15

He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation."

Is it possible, as a Christian, to aspire to be a social media influencer, even in secular topic areas?  Is it inherently contradictory to have an ambition, as a Christian, in a field that is so completely self-centered?  What are the dangers and risks to your character and faith from such an ambition?  How can you ensure that you, yourself, remain authentic, and that your postings authentically reveal who you are?  Is admitting that you are a Christian going to damage your social media reputation or brand?  Is working as an influencer in social media going to damage your reputation as a Christian?  What do you have to watch out for in terms of your own topics and opinions in your social media work, in order to avoid damaging the reputation of Christianity?

Many people these days aspire to a job, and even a career, as an influencer in social media.  If you are a Christian, you have to ask yourself all of the questions above, and many, many more.  This series is going to attempt to address some of those questions, and assist in guiding those who wish to get into this particular field to do so safely.  Safely for you, your faith, your brand, and even, one might say, your immortal soul.

Topics and table of contents:

https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2026/05/cosmi-00100-introduction-and-table-of.html (this one)

https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2026/05/cosmi-10002-can-christian-be-influencer.html

https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2026/05/cosmi-10105-authenticity-know-yourself.html

https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2026/05/cosmi-10106-authenticity-know-yourself.html

https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2026/05/cosmi-10107-authenticity-know-yourself.html

https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2026/05/cosmi-10108-authenticity-know-yourself.html

CoSMI: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2026/05/cosmi-00100-introduction-and-table-of.html

Sermon - CoSMI - 1.0.0 - Can a Christian Be an Influencer part 1

Sermon - CoSMI - 1.0.0 - Can a Christian Be an Influencer part 1

1 Corinthians 12:4

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.

In trying to prepare sermons for this particular series, I have had reactions from different people that this is impossible.  It is impossible, inherently impossible, for a Christian to be an influencer.

Obviously I don't agree with this position, but I think it's important to address the points that these people have made.

Jesus said that in order to follow him, we have to deny ourselves.  Paul says to the Philippians that they should do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.  I think those who feel that it is inherently impossible for a Christian to be an influencer see influencers as primarily self-centred.  Not necessarily solely selfish, but definitely centred on themselves.  Their opinions, their reputation, their brand, and the way they present themselves to the world.  However, if that position is accurate, then it is impossible for a Christian to be an actor or a popular singer or really any position that puts them at center stage.  That would seem to include the position of a mass evangelist.  Was Billy Graham wrong in being an evangelist?

As a matter of fact, in taking this position, it would seem to be the case that one could not be a preacher of any kind or a song leader.  And there are, after all, certain denominations who take that position.  Quakers, or the Society of Friends, do not have anyone at all leading their services.  The Brethren do not go quite this far, but they do not have professional ministry or those who lead the singing on a regular and professional basis.

But these groups are in the minority.  Most of us, in most denominations of Christianity, accept that we have a professional clergy and professional song leaders.  Therefore, we are having people who take center stage and do so on a regular basis and do it to the glory of God.  Gloria was a soloist.  She knew, from the age of twelve, that her voice was a gift from God and was to be used in God's service.  She frequently said that she considered God to be her booking agent.  When she was asked to sing, she always said yes.  She said that the requests came from God and that her voice was to be used in God's service.  She said that when she sang in Christian service, she always knew and felt strongly that there was at least one person in the audience who needed to hear that song.

So, can you be an influencer on social media if you are a Christian?  Can you be a Christian social media influencer, apart from trying to be a SMevangelist (social media evangelist)?

It would seem to me that we not only can, but that we must.  We are told to go into all the world and preach the gospel.  Cyberspace is now part of our world.  Therefore, it would be not merely careless, but negligent, to abandon cyberspace to those who are either opposed to, or apathetic about, Christianity.

There is, of course, always a danger, as there is with any aspect of life.  Vanity and conceit cannot be allowed to rule, and it would seem that pride and overconfidence are definitely dangers and sins that are not merely present in any activity on social media, but particularly the province of those who have ambitions as influencers.  Envy is definitely one of the sins that is going to be associated with social media.  Anger is also a sin that is omnipresent in our current social media platforms.  Therefore, yes, there is a great deal of danger for anyone who has any ambitions to be an influencer on social media platforms.  But, as I have said, we may be negligent if we simply concede it to those who do not wish Christianity to thrive.

I have mentioned Billy Graham.  He very definitely achieved a very large measure of fame, and used that fame to influence people, and even politics.  The same can be said of Mother Teresa.  Of course, for every Billy Graham that we have, we can find a number of counter examples in televangelists who have achieved fame, and riches, and have then achieved notoriety, as they fell into sin.  There is a definite danger, and anyone who works in any area where fame and celebrity are part and parcel of the activity must beware of the dangers, and definitely take strong preventative action against them.

In regard to keeping yourself safe from the dangers of sin, in approaching the ambition to become a social media influencer, it would seem that the first and most effective preventative is honesty.  Be honest with those that you are influencing; your followers on social media.  But definitely be honest with yourself.  Are you doing this for the right reasons?  Are you willing for your reputation to suffer as a result of identifying yourself as a Christian?  Are you willing to trash or diminish your social media and influencer reputation in order to share the gospel with someone who hasn't heard it?  Are you willing for your influence, as an influencer, and your own celebrity to be secondary to your responsibility to follow what God would have you do, and say, rather than what may be popular on social media?

This issue of honesty is something that we have to examine very specifically in the next sermon, on authenticity.

Sermon - CoSMI - 1.1.7 - Can a Christian Be an Influencer part 2 - TBD

Sermons: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2023/09/sermons.html