If you maintain a façade because you’re afraid other people might find out who you are or God might not love you, then you’re going to miss out on God’s best for your life.

God does not bless fakes or phonies. If you want God’s blessing on your life, stop living for the approval of other people and start being who God made you to be. God didn’t create you to be somebody else. When you get to heaven, he isn’t going to ask, “Why weren’t you more like your sister or the popular kid or your successful friend?” He’s going to hold you accountable for how you fulfilled his purposes for your life.

The world doesn’t need two of you or anybody else. But the world does need you to do the work God has for you on earth. He shaped you and gifted you in a unique way, and we’re all missing out if you’re determined to be anyone but yourself.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:2, “We don’t try to trick anyone or distort the word of God” (NLT). In other words, we’re not putting on a disguise or a phony mask. We’re not pretending we’re something we’re not. And we don’t twist the Word of God. Instead, we teach the truth plainly, showing everyone who we really are.

Nothing is more discouraging than trying to please everybody. I’ve been on the cover of Newsweek magazine twice, once as the hero and once as a zero. That’s just life! Even God can’t please everyone. When somebody’s praying for a snow day, someone else is praying for blue skies.

If you’re always trying to be something you’re not, you’re always going to be under stress and fear being exposed, and you’re going to be prone to discouragement.

To defeat discouragement, just be who God made you to be. You don’t have to be perfect for God to bless you—just be authentic.