Authentic

Citadel Cadets and Coast Guard Academy Grads with the Author

A youth pastor recently shared that authenticity is most important to members of Generation Z (born roughly between 1997 and 2010). Raised in the ever-present influence of social media, they have learned that what one sees and reads is often not true. They understand hype, disingenuousness, posing, and fakeness. They have observed what materialism does to people. They feel the pain of inflation and understand that, in a nation deeply underwater in debt, getting ahead economically is unlikely. They know what it’s like to live in a polarized country where both sides manipulate information. What they crave is honesty.

​Meditation
Proverbs 11:19--Genuine righteousness leads to life, but pursuing evil leads to death.
 
True righteousness is always authentic. The best example of this is Jesus. In Luke 4:33-34, we read:
In the synagogue there was a man with an unclean demonic spirit who cried out with a loud voice,  “Leave us alone! What do You have to do with us, Jesus—Nazarene? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God. 
Luke later wrote in Acts 3:14,15, “But you denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you. You killed the source of life, whom God raised from the dead; we are witnesses of this.” The demonsrecognized Jesus’ sinlessness because they knew by experience in the heavenlies His existence and deity. The apostles witnessed Jesus’ divinity and died following Him. It’s rewarding to die for an authentic Savior—their hope was secure.
            
Long, long ago, David wrote, “The instruction of the Lord is perfect, renewing one’s life; the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy, making the inexperienced wise” (Psalm 19:7). What God teaches is authentic, and therefore, when we obey Him, we are blessed. We can fully trust Him and are made better because of it.
            
For us to be authentic means we are true to our word. We model integrity. Our character is trustworthy. As we all know, no human is perfect. We make false statements, mistakes, and fail. As long as we own this by admitting our wrongdoing and coming clean regarding our sin our credibility stands a chance of succeeding. Where we fall into trouble is with hypocrisy, which not only kills genuineness but also creates enduring doubt because our actions are consistently discordant with our words. Generation Z is not expecting perfection in people—they know better. They are expecting authenticity—and so should we. Something to think about . . . in reveration.
 
Inspiration
“Live authentically. Why would you continue to compromise something that's beautiful to create something that is fake?”― Steve Maraboli
 
©2026 Daniel York  ARR.  Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  To receive these devotionals, go to www.firstcause.org and click the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed, subject to the inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10—"The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.”  (Holman CSB)