Have you ever heard someone say “You do you”? Three simple words, but they carry a lot of meaning. People use it when they want to say “Be your own person and do whatever you want.” And by extension, most people are also saying “And since I’m allowing you to do whatever you want, I’m going to do whatever I want and you can’t tell me not to. You do whatever is right in your own eyes and I’ll do the same. You do whatever makes you happy and I’ll do the same.” You do you.
There was a time in Israel’s history where ‘You do you’ was the general theme. The time of the judges was a bloody and wicked time filled with violence and idolatry. The last verse of the book of Judges sums up that time period: “In those days there was not king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” Everybody did whatever they wanted to do.
There was no king. Saul had not been crowned yet. But Saul was not supposed to be their king anyways. God was their King, but they had rejected Him and His authority so that they could do whatever they wanted and be like the people around them. Which also led to their being conquered and enslaved over and over. ‘You do you’ was a bad time in Israel’s history.
When people chase after things separate from God thinking that it will make them ‘happy,’ they often end up miserable. The Israelites thought they would be happy worshiping other gods, but they ended up being miserable when those gods couldn’t provide for or protect them. They thought they would be happy if they had a human king. But they were miserable as many of those kings taxed them and led them astray.
Here we are some 3,000 years later, and the phrase ‘Do whatever is right in your own eyes’ has been turned into a catchy saying: “You do you.”
Don’t do you. Don’t do whatever is right in your own eyes. Don’t follow your heart. We mess up even the simplest things. God, however, has never made a mistake, never messed up, never wished He had done something differently. So do what is right in God’s eyes. Follow Him. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (Prov 3:5).