What if the self you perceive—that core of identity and experience addressed by the command to "fear God and keep his commandments"—is, from an ultimate perspective, a temporary and potentially illusory construct? Philosophers like David Hume saw the self as merely a constantly changing "bundle or collection of different perceptions," while Jacques Lacan described the ego as born from foundational misrecognition and shaped by the "Other." This episode explores this profound paradox, suggesting the temporary, perceived self is not an obstacle but a divinely purposed vessel, a "clay jar" containing the "treasure"—the knowledge of God's glory "in the face of Jesus Christ." This potentially "phantom self" is the necessary locus where relationship with God is sown and responsibility resides through Christ. It is the entity that undergoes transformation into the "new self" in Christ, encounters the full revelation of God in the person of Christ, and overcomes lesser fears through the "fear of God," understood as ultimate trust in the God revealed in Christ. Ultimately, the fleeting self discovers its profound, albeit temporary and constructed, purpose by encountering the eternal "in the face of Jesus Christ," finding the only enduring reality in that ultimate relationship and the resulting reverence—the very fear of the Lord. The illusion, it seems, is the necessary crucible for experiencing the breathtaking reality of fearing God, a journey made possible, meaningful, and transformative only through Christ.