Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Becoming Him

There's a little bit of sompin' sompin' that's been rolling around in my mind for a few days now. It's something that maybe we all know, but might not be something that we operate out of.


I was praying about some things concerning my weaknesses (again) and I believe the Lord told me something that might, no, will encourage all of us.

Yesterday I mentioned it...becoming. Becoming like Christ isn't something that we just do. The word in and of itself has action to it, progression, time. Many times I have looked at my life and wished that areas were more like Christ. Then somewhere in my lapse of memory I figured I was the one to get me to that spot. You know, "BE" like Christ. A Nike sort of aggression to just magically turn myself into a mini-Jesus.

Sadly, those Nike's wore out quickly and I found myself sprawled out on the court with scuffed knees and elbows, still looking like myself.

Anyone?

What I think we must all understand and realize is that Jesus in not only asking us to become like Him, but He is the one making it possible. Each area that is weak and unattractive and so un-Christ like is not a place that ignores until we get it right.

There is no picture He points to and says, "Be like that on your own." However, I have tried.

Tried to be nicer.
Tried to be more organized.
Tried to be happier.
Tried to have more mercy.
Tried to control my quick fuse.
Tried to not be envious.

Try
Try
Try

But let's look at Ephesians for a minute and see if we can't start this book off with letting ourselves off the hook.

Now, hold the horses for a minute. There is real value in being attentive to our own weaknesses. It's important that we take real steps to train our minds and bodies to go after the things of Christ. But, the real transformation come only through surrender to the work of the Spirit.

I want us all to know that God is in the transformation. He's in the middle of all our weaknesses helping us look at them at all angles and gently reminding us these are areas. They do not define who we are.

Take a look-see at WHO you are (even with your weaknesses)

You are chosen - 1:4
Adopted - 1:5
Holy and blameless - 1:4
Redeemed - 1:7
Forgiven - 1:7
Lavished upon - 1:8
Made known mysteries - 1:9
Included - 1:13
Marked with the Holy Spirit - 1:13

That's just the FIRST chapter!

If we let our weaknesses define who we are rather than let Christ say who we are, we will bow to them rather than Him. We will bow to their power, their influence, their habitual interference.

But, shift your mind to the things of God and your view of yourself will change. You are all this in Christ... wiiiiith some weaknesses. He is in the business of making all things new. You are a new creation in Him. You just have some residue of an old self clinging on.

Take time to read Ephesians Chapter 1 a few times tonight between Olympic events and ingest the richness of Who you are in Him!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have been reading Stiletto Army for quite some time. I love your points in this post because I think we beat ourselves up over our weaknesses and think we are ineffective for His Kingdom because of them. I loved learning who we are in Christ through the study Believing God. That study was revolutionary in renewing my mind to believe what God said about me and to me instead of what I had grown up believing and hearing. I so often wish I had learned before so much of the heartache, but I suppose that also shaped who I am today. We cannot be defeated by staring at our weaknesses, we have to remove our focus from ourselves and failure and look to the One who reminds us who we really are in Christ. You're doing great work here! Blessings, Amy in OK

Mary Jo said...

I am so excited to be doing this study on Ephesians! I love this book!

I was reading Chapter 1 (the Message version) and this stuck out to me: verses 7-10

"Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we are a free people - free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free!"

The rest of that portion is awesomet too but I don't want to take up all this space! :)

I have tons of weaknesses - I hate all of them. But daily I'm learning that God's grace covers them and as I learn to follow Him, He will help me transform into the person He already sees in teh future. :)

Yay!

Unknown said...

Wow. For some reason I never realized that --Jesus is the one who changes me, not me changing myself. I have a long list of "tried" too.

deleise said...

I love this. It goes right along with the BE Transformed study I am doing right now.

Did you notice we both had the sentence "Anyone?" in our posts today? :)

Shane said...

Thank you for helping me smile today from the inside out. =)