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Wednesday, September 8 |
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| For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. (Phil. 1:21) | |||
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Free to Be Your (New) Self
This is a an article I am still working on, but I think there is enough written so far to be of value to others. More importantly, I value feedback, comments and questions on this and any article I have written. Your insight into our relationship with Christ could be of great benefit to me and others so please share any thoughts you may have. Send me an email [click on Feedback at the top] and let me know what you think.
This article probably doesn't flow really well yet. You might want to skip around or skim things to find the good stuff, if there is any :-).
We have all probably heard of the phrase, "Be your self". The idea is to live and act according to who you really are and not try to be someone you're not. As believers, we can take this to mean we should be content with how our Creator has wired our personalities. He has made each of us unique for a purpose. #### Add More ####
While we can recognize God has created each of us with unique personalities for a purpose, we as believers also realize sin has distorted all of us so that we do not live completely in a way which pleases God. This is why all people need Christ. We as sinful people cannot make ourselves good. Only God can make us right and he has wonderfully accomplished this in Christ. We in Christ now strive to live in a manner pleasing to God and we are no doubt frustrated by the reality of our continued failure. We can see ourselves as we read Paul describe his struggle in Romans 7
Here is our struggle: We have a new life in Christ, but we still stumble and sin in many ways. We are completely forgiven and cleansed in Christ, but how do we approach this idea of sanctification whereby we are to become more and more like Christ? God has given us a new life in Christ, but how does this to become a reality in our lives? I believe the way we become more and more like Christ is simply to "Be yourself", or a better way to say it is, "Be your new self". In other words, be true to the new creation you are in Christ.
As a new creation in Christ, we are completely free to be who God has created us to be. All that God creates is perfect and complete and this truth applies to you and I who are new creations in Christ.
Do you find your Christian life a constant struggle to be something or someone you're not? You know you are supposed to pray, be patient, share your faith, study the word and many other things, but do you really find yourself trying to act and feel in a way which is not natural for you? Who we are in Christ is not like the world so there will always be tension with the world around us, but do you also find a disconnect between who you should be as a Christian and who you really are? In other words, you don't fit into the world, but you don't really fit into the Christian life either. Oh, you belong to a church and have Christian friends and all, but if the person you present to them is not who you really are. [### not crazy about this paragraph ###]
We are free from sin and we are free to be children of God. As children of God, like children in any family, we have a natural family resemblence, in this case to our heavenly Father. We are not just children as a position in Christ, but children in every real sense of the word. The true nature of who we are in Christ is children of God. We are free to let this family resemblence be the very nature of who we are.
Relax and listen to God. I had put in "follow", but listen is better. We can do our own thing and call that following. Listening, hearing and then responding is far better than doing.
Free to be ourselves and love God (Abba, Father. Romans 8)
Free to be ourselves and love others.
Free to be ourselves and be holy.
Be yourself and who you are is a new life in Christ. Do you find yourself trying to do things which you know you should be doing as a follower of Christ? For example, you know you should pray for your brother and sisters in Christ, but you don't really feel like. Maybe you have other things on your mind or it's getting late and time for bed. If you do set aside time to pray for them, it may come about as a matter of personal discipline or just "doing the right thing". You may even have a good time of prayer, but does God intend that our struggle as believers are around the things we are supposed to do (e.g., bible study, sharing our faith, loving others), whatever these things may be? As a believer, is my life a product of what I do or is it a product of who I am? Is my life a product of the things I chose to do or a product of who I am in Christ? How do you define yourself? We all would would no doubt say we are Christians because of our faith in Christ (####see paragraph below on Definition of a Christian. Is it what we have done, or what God has done?####).
####### I was going to say (in above paragraph) that, just as we are saved by faith, we must live by faith, not by doing. What I really want to say is that it is who we are in Christ that is important. Be your (new) self in Christ. We pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ because they are our family. This is who you are. Who you are is not a busy mom, a harried worker, an overwhelmed student, a failure, a shy person, a success. No, who you are is a new creation in Christ. You are child of God and there is a family unmistakable family resemblence emblazened in your heart by God Himself. Don't try to be something you're not. You are like Him and we must only let Him live through us. You are free to love and worship your heavenly Father and walk with Him throughout your day. This is who you are and you are not anything else.
Continuing Thing on Praying For Others, Etc.
So, praying for others is not accomplished as a matter of discipline, it is who we are as members of the family of God. As a child of God, I delight in praying for my siblings. I love them and want God's best for them.
As a member of God's family, my interest is in holiness, righteousness and justice. This is who I am. This is my delight. Being a follower of Christ is not a matter of trying harder not to sin, but a matter of being who I truly am in Christ.
Don't Try to Act like a Christian
Stop trying to act like a Christian. That is such a silly thing to do. It's like trying to act like a human. We are all humans and we naturally act like one. Throw away any concepts you have about being a Christian and just be who you are in Christ.
Certainly, His Word, needs to permeate your mind and heart to lead us, but it is not leading us so much in things to do, but who we are.
I am not saying this is some quick, easy path to being a mega, perfect Christian. What I am saying is that our struggle in Christ is not about what we should do, but who we are. As we more and more, by faith, see and understand who we are, what we say and do will naturally follow. We are not to be robots "doing the right thing at the right moment", but new creations in Christ who simply live and breath according to our core identity in Christ.
Don't Fake It
Do try to convince yourself to be at peace or to have joy? Do you try to get yourself into the right frame of mind? You can never counterfeit the Holy Spirit. You can never produce the fruit of the Spirit. Don't try to fake it. Be your new self in Christ. Follow where God leads, not where you want to go.
External Forces to Generate Christian Behavior
Christians and Christian organizations (i.e., churches) often attempt to produce "Christian" behavior through programs and other means. There is a group or a program for every conceivable element of the Christian life. An accountability group can use the peer pressure of a small group to get Christians to regularly study the bible, pray or avoid sin and temptation in our lives. The assumption these types of groups can be that any believer, by themselves, will generally not have any interest in "being a good Christian" and will lose any interest in bible study, prayer and fellowship and their spiritual life will then grow cold or luke warm at best. The underlying thinking is that we cannot trust the working of the Holy Spirit through the new creation we are in Christ. Can't you see how most of us believe some tangible, external influence is necessary for us to live a life which is pleasing to God? This is not even close to what God wants for us as believers.
If there is any perceived weakness in the congregations "performance", a program will be started to get the flock to respond. If people are not coming to Christ, a church will start evangelistic training, generate opportunities to invite friends to church, feature friendship evangelism or any number of other programs to get believers to "reach people for Christ". Typically, a program like this will last for a season, only to be gradually forgotten as the next emphasis or program comes into prominence. There is no lasting change in people's behavior because the object of change is the flesh, not the spirit. These efforts and goals are noble, but they really appeal to the fleshly desire to improve ourselves. People can sincerly desire to please God in all that they do, but surrounded by a mentality of programs and methods, Christians can be trapped in this endless cycle of trying the latest methods and programs to please God, not realizing God is pleased with us as new creations in Christ. We don't realize that it is not the magnitude and scope of our efforts which please God, but simply walking in complete trust and dependence on our wonderful Father which pleases and satisfies Him and us as well.
Other more subtle methods can be employed by organizations or individuals. Guilt is a popular technique. Sometimes, it seems like we can't trust believers to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit to please God so we generate rules, mostly unwritten, to direct believers to live and behave the right way. We have expectations about how believers should behave in our congregations and any deviation from this norm is not acceptable. People conform to this standard, at least on Sunday morning when we all gather together, regardless of what is really going on inside their hearts. We don't place value on the working of the Holy Spirit to conform us into the image of Christ, but we value a smile, kind words, a good appearance and no messy sins or shortfalls in our behavior.
We as Christian parents can do the same with our children. Discipline is important, but all believers, including children, must have their own, healthy, Spirit led, relationship with God. We cannot mold anyone, child or adult, to be like Christ. This can only come from the Holy Spirit.
Cannot Manufacture a Christian Behavior
While Evangelical Christians would never say we could make someone a Christian, our programs, teachings and books often are attempts to manufacture Christian behavior in Christians. The assumption is that Christians will not act like Christ "naturally" so they must be cajolled, coerced, trained and tricked into acting like a Christian (or at least how we define one should act). ## MORE ##
In the attempt to manufacture Christian behavior and regulate (under the guise of encouraging certain behavior) every area of Christian life (worship service, bible study, fellowship), we have actually brought forth individuals who are doing everything BUT following the Holy Spirt. Who needs the Holy Spirit when every programs and schedules map out everything a believer needs to do? We have programs for bible study, guidelines for prayer, step by step for witnessing. Nothing is left to "chance". We are free to do what we want, but actually, don't we often gravitate towards methods and programs which others have found successful?
Haven't you been convinced that studying the bible in a particular way is necessary to really becoming mature in Christ? We don't say it's required, but is it really OK to study as you feel led? Whatever you do, you MUST read and study your bible every day to really walk close to the Lord. Studying the word is essential and good, but who said it has to be every day? Is the expectation of daily bible study really just another way we show we can't be trusted as believers to "do the right thing", so we set up an external metric to regulate our behavior. A Christian would never naturally hunger after God, so we'll set an expectation to make them behave in the right way. They may not want to live this way, but if we "make" them do it, that will be better.
Can't Trust Yourself so Must be Forced to Act "Unnaturally" (like a Christian)
If you think about it, does it seem sometimes like we don't really trust anyone to "act like a Christian". By this I mean, don't we set up guidelines and expectations for people to "keep them on track". We would question or be concerned about another believer if they are not involved in a particular small group fellowship like a Bible study or accountability group. We do need our fellowship, but why do we think this? Is it because we think all believers need external forces to make them believe and do the right thing? Can we not trust another believer to walk with the Lord without being directed by other believers and Christian leaders?
We are the Enemy and we Must be Trained to Act Properly
Does it ever seem like we are the bad guy? There is nothing good in us so we must, by force of will, do things we don't want to do in order to be more like Christ? We must involve ourselves in disciplines we do not enjoy like prayer and bible study to become people we don't really want to be. What's up with that? Do you get it? We somehow are convinced by others to do things we don't want to do to become people we don't really want to be.
Whle it is true there is a struggle with our flesh, why does it seem like the flesh always wants to do the fun things. The things we really want?
God has created a new creation in us which does want to know Him, love Him and life in harmony with the truth that is in Him. We as a new creation do want to study His word, does want to talk to Him and does desire that all men come to know Him. This is inside you in Christ. You don't and cannot "manufacture" these feelings yourself in the strength of your flesh. You can try, but you will be a miserable person as you try to get the flesh (sinful nature) to act in a way which pleases God (Romans 8). This cannot be done. We can only follow the Holy Spirit as we are led naturally (fruit of the spirit) to live in harmony and in step with the truth which is in Christ, and is in us.
Trust God and the New Life He has Created in You
Trust the work God has accomplished in your heart as He created a new person in Christ. I am not saying to trust yourself, but to trust what God has done. It is a finished work and it is in you. It is you. It is the new you.
Our Life is in Christ not in words
#### Move Out ####
##### This is very similar to what I just recently wrote about Christ being the truth ### Maybe I should roll this into that article and post it separately.
As you read or study scripture, do you ever look for some concept or truth which will change your life? Do you look for something you should know or be doing which will finally enable you to live and experience the Christian life as you believe it should be lived? Are you trying to pull together and master scripture truths such that you will eventually live the abundant Christian life you have always longed for? Scripture does reveal life changing truth, but it is not hidden in some passage or some special interpretation. It is not something we finally master after years of study. It is the most obvious thing we find in scripture. The "secret" to all things is Jesus Christ. He permeates scripture and it is in Him, not in some special understanding of the words of the bible, that we have full and complete life.
Stop studying scripture and reading books with the idea of finding the formula for success. As Peter tells us, God has given us everything we need. Do you think that God, as the perfect Father and parent, would give us everything we need and then require us to figure out some secret formula to access these things? God is not like that at all. If you are looking in the writings or words of other individuals (including mine) to finally find the missing pieces to your Christian life, you will forever find only frustration and dissappointment. Our life is in the Son and not in any words or truth. He alone is the Truth and He is all that you need to know.
Did you ever look at what Paul prayed for other believers? Did Paul prayer that they would somehow study and learn the secrets of scripture? What was Paul's message? Was it some formula or steps for success? Read carefully what Paul says
Paul doesn't seek after truth, but to know and exalt the Truth, which is Jesus Christ. He proclaims Jesus Christ and prays that fellow believers would know Jesus Christ. Jesus isn't the most important thing, He is everything. He is our life.
When most people get to this point they will say, "That's great stuff, but what must I now do?" In some sense, nothing. There is nothing you can add to or improve on. All goodness and righteousness is from God through Jesus Christ. He has created the new person in each of us through faith in Jesus Christ so that we free to love Him and enjoy the fruit of His righteousness in our lives.
It's not about what we must do, but what He has done and accomplished through Jesus Christ. The work of redemption has been eternally completed in Jesus Christ and we enjoy the fruit and blessing of this beyond what we can imagine. The "work" for us is not our effort at self improvement or trying to do the right thing, but allowing His righteousness to be part of our lives. Our challenge is to trust the work He has accomplished and trust as we follow the Holy Spirit's leading in our lives.
Don't mix things up and try to create your own righteousness in your life (righteousness is from God alone is something man can never generate). Don't search the Bible to find the "various pieces of the puzzle" to make you life right. It's not about filling our heads with all the right knowledge and it's not about trying harder or trying to behave in the right way. Be your new self which is created in Christ Jesus. Follow Him, not your idea of what or who you should be as a Christian.
Learn, Memorize Scripture
Do I just need to memorize and learn scripture to grow? These are good things, but learning and memorizing scripture is not the secret to success in the Christian life. Scripture points us to the answer. It points us to the Life and Truth which is found in Christ alone.
How can our own strivings be good? Nothing from ourselves can ever please God. Only that which is from God can please God.
Are we supposed to just try harder? Is there some scriptural truth we have yet to learn which will be the key to "true spiritual maturity"?
I would suggest to you that in our effort to live our new life in Christ we strive to "do the right thing".
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