Wow, its been a while hasn't it. That's okay. I am human, as are you.
We forget. We stumble. We fall down. But we are not defined by our falling as much as our getting up.
My lack of blog writer in the past, even though, I made a commitment to it, has reminded me of sin, guilt, pain, and all other short comings we might face in life.
The older we get the more times we fail. And as through Hillsong wirters say "A Thousand times I fail still your mercy remains. The art of losing myself in bringing you fame."
But why do we try to measure up? Why do we try and be something or someone we are not. This gets even more scary when you throw theologians with their Phds and Mdivs in the mix. Some will say the goal of the Christian life is to be more like Jesus. Is it? Kind of.
You see when our whole objective is centered on who we are becoming and not all we are we are missing most of the picture.
Don't get me wrong. It is a very good thing to become more like Jesus. In fact, that is what the world needs. We need people to embody the real Jesus. Not the white-skin, Republican Jesus that we like to portray. But the one who said hard words that we must wrestle with daily.
Last night at our youth group, I tricked the kids into learning. Bahahahahaha. During our normal lesson time we engaged in dialogue back in forth where they had to ask and answer simple questions that proved not to be so simply.
We started by talking about Jesus, which got us to the cross, which got us to sin, which got us to what the heck is sin, which got us to the perfection of Jesus Himself.
Is Jesus perfect? There was a student in our group conceived without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus was not perfect. Bare in mind this was the same student that proclaimed boldly that "Jesus came to die for our sins."
How could He if he wasn't perfect? Its like you are taking a test and its pass fail. You either have to get a 100% or you fail. Would you trust yourself when you know you didn't have a perfect score or would you greatfully trade with the student that you know was perfect?
This seems silly. But this is what happened for us on the cross. Jesus was perfect. He had to be. If he wasn't there is no point in life. He was tempted in all the ways we have been tempted yet he never sinned. If he wasn't perfect he wouldn't have "died for our sins."
Sin- wrong doings before God's holy law.
The key to Jesus' success? He was God. Yes he was human too. 100% each somehow. Don't pretend that we understand it. God knew we couldn't muster enough faith, enough goodness to be perfect. So he had to become a human and die in our place.
This, well, this is the Gospel.
So what about becoming more like Jesus? I think its a great idea. But I do not think it should be our focus.
You see because the more I know God, the thing that is most changed isn't my outside behavior but my heart. The closer I get to God the more I realized how jacked up I can be some times. The closer I get to the light the more I see my dirt. And I hate it. And I don't want it. And I wish God would come down and make me a better person but He hasn't.
But here is what I have learned: It isn't about me becoming a better person. It's about me trusting in God that He was a good enough person for me. It's about me having a more grace filled heart. You see, when I remember how much God has forgiven me and still continues to forgive I am free to forgive others around me.
But if I think I am becoming a better person that is when I start to look down on those around me. And really is that who we desire to be?
We are a new creation in Christ. If you believe in Jesus that is who you are. You are a brand new you. You didn't earn it. You wouldn't. You didn't desire it until God made it possible.
Today, my prayer for you as it is for myself is not that we try and become better people but that we become people that depend on God for everything. That we remember how much we have been shown grace and therefore we can show grace, and love, and mercy, and kindness to others.
I think that is what the world needs.
