How to Be Known

Artists are an eccentric bunch. From Van Gogh’s severed ear to Dali’s pet anteater, we often know as much about their uncommon lives as we do about their celebrated works. It’s not a rule, but if it were, we’d only need to travel 10,000 miles westward and 51,000 years into the past to find its exception. In the caves of Karampuang Hill, on the Indonesian Island of South Sulawesi, a completely unknown artist composed a drawing that scientists now believe to be the oldest example of representational art—three human figures and a large pig-like creature scrawled in red-earthen tones across a grey-speckled wall. Starry Night it isn’t (I may have the exact same work at home in a “spaghetti sauce on painted drywall” medium), but it remains an important work in its context and in how it confirms an evergreen truth about humanity—as the created or as the creators, the artists or the art, we are bent towards making ourselves known.

Fast-forward thousands of years, throw in the ubiquitousness of social media and the internet, and it’s easy to see that there is nothing new under the sun. If not posting our personal lives in the virtual world, here in the physical world, we broadcast ourselves in t-shirts, bumper stickers, and even election-year yard signs that give our curb appeal a nice little…something. From the caves of yesterday to the front lawns of today, we’ve never been afraid to move a little earth and get our hands a little dirty to put our stories in the spotlight.

The Tower of Babel has entered the chat.

There is nothing wrong with being known, of course. Quite the opposite. Being known is integral to the human experience. Not only have studies shown that it is a deep-rooted human need that brings us joy—even activating the brain's reward centers when we engage in self-disclosure—but Scripture requires as much of us. To some degree, our lives are about making ourselves known so others can see the transformational power of the Cross working in us and through us.

So how can Christians engage in self-revelation without making too much of themselves, honoring the many calls to humility and self-denial? It’s a tricky balance we all wrestle with, but Scripture removes the need for weighing the means, methods, and measures by giving us certainties—it simply tells us how we will be known. These are the things we must consider first, and from them, the balance of our self-revelation can flow. Here are ten examples to consider as we reflect upon the way the world will come to know us:

1. Words: "Let no 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
2. Unity: "I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." John 17:23
3. Obedience: "Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else." 2 Corinthians 9:13
4. Good Works: "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:16; "Even a child makes himself known by his acts, by whether his conduct is pure and upright;" Proverbs 20:11; "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." 1 Peter 2:12.
5. Humility: "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." Philippians 2:3-4.
6. Generosity: "Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else." 2 Corinthians 9:13
7. Faith: "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world." Romans 1:8
8. Hope: "But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect." 1 Peter 3:15
9. Purity: "Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." 1 Timothy 4:12
10. Love: "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:35

While this is not an exhaustive list (much more can be inferred throughout Scripture, and I make no effort to fold in commands here), it is important to take stock of these explicit realities and recognize that where we do not exemplify them, the world will know us not in the neutral, but in the inverse, and the transformational power of the Spirit accordingly. Where we are careless with our words, our testimony is our gracelessness. Where we are not united, our testimony is division. Without obedience, disobedience. Good works, idleness. Humility, conceit. Generosity, greed. Faith, faithlessness. Hope, hopelessness. Purity, corruption. Love, hate.

It’s not exactly an influencer’s cookbook, but our calling is, in part, to be the embodiment of counter-cultural Kingdom living. Somewhere between the Sunday bulletin church and the Hollywood production church. Somewhere between the Christian thinkers calling us back to our grandparents’ wardrobe and the Christian thinkers waxing poetic about the soul-saving “look” of the current generation. Somewhere between glorification of the ascetic and the aesthetic. Somewhere, everywhere, between the pages of Scripture, we find that our identity is in Christ, and in making Him known, we make ourselves known, finding for ourselves the ultimate, unending joy of self-revelation. Be sure to like and follow!