“I am the way I am, and I can’t change that.”
This is a common phrase that is uttered by many. It makes sense when you think about it. When someone is socially awkward, has uncontrollable habits, vices that consume their time, or a thought-life that is centered around self deprecation they often use the above phrase to acknowledge their shortfalls but reject the idea of change.
Why would we change though? Just because someone is offended by us or our behavior, does this mean we must change what we do? This seems to be a shallow set of reasons….
What if, however, God led us to change who we are? How would we respond? The first question we may have in this instance is, “doesn’t God love me the way I am?” or “didn’t He make me to think, or act this way?” Obviously we are aware that God loves us no matter where we are in our life or what we have done. God pursues us in the mess of our life and even in the midst of who we have created ourselves to be…but…God wants us to be more.
The subject, then, is not who we are…but it is who the Creator of the universe desires us to be. The fact is when we think about our personality, thought patterns, and habits much of who we think we are is a product of the relationships we have entered into in our lives. We tend to acquire similar likes, dislikes, and patterns of behavior of groups in which we associate ourselves. For instance we often develop affinities based on the affinities of friends or family. Also, when we embrace a sinful life, we become captive to the dictatorship of our pleasure.
When we ask Jesus to be our Lord…that relationship changes us. So many times we get the impression that being a Christian means assimilating to a certain set of behaviors and looking like everyone else. We must wear the right clothes, get the same haircut, and speak in King James version when ever we pray. This is somewhat intimidating because it is hard to imagine such a massive shift in our lifestyle. It is easy to reject the whole concept of potential transformation through Jesus because we assume that this is the whole point….to make people act differently and (like when we were kids) play nice in the sandbox. It is not.
God doesn’t call us to Himself to make us like everyone else. He saves us to continue creation within us…to continue making us into who we were designed to be. A relationship with God changes us because we realize that God’s desire is for us to be free.
He loves you. Give Him a chance today.
This post was written by Rev DeCrastos. For the original post, go to: http://other-words.net/2014/03/07/created-to-change/
This is a common phrase that is uttered by many. It makes sense when you think about it. When someone is socially awkward, has uncontrollable habits, vices that consume their time, or a thought-life that is centered around self deprecation they often use the above phrase to acknowledge their shortfalls but reject the idea of change.
Why would we change though? Just because someone is offended by us or our behavior, does this mean we must change what we do? This seems to be a shallow set of reasons….
What if, however, God led us to change who we are? How would we respond? The first question we may have in this instance is, “doesn’t God love me the way I am?” or “didn’t He make me to think, or act this way?” Obviously we are aware that God loves us no matter where we are in our life or what we have done. God pursues us in the mess of our life and even in the midst of who we have created ourselves to be…but…God wants us to be more.
The subject, then, is not who we are…but it is who the Creator of the universe desires us to be. The fact is when we think about our personality, thought patterns, and habits much of who we think we are is a product of the relationships we have entered into in our lives. We tend to acquire similar likes, dislikes, and patterns of behavior of groups in which we associate ourselves. For instance we often develop affinities based on the affinities of friends or family. Also, when we embrace a sinful life, we become captive to the dictatorship of our pleasure.
When we ask Jesus to be our Lord…that relationship changes us. So many times we get the impression that being a Christian means assimilating to a certain set of behaviors and looking like everyone else. We must wear the right clothes, get the same haircut, and speak in King James version when ever we pray. This is somewhat intimidating because it is hard to imagine such a massive shift in our lifestyle. It is easy to reject the whole concept of potential transformation through Jesus because we assume that this is the whole point….to make people act differently and (like when we were kids) play nice in the sandbox. It is not.
God doesn’t call us to Himself to make us like everyone else. He saves us to continue creation within us…to continue making us into who we were designed to be. A relationship with God changes us because we realize that God’s desire is for us to be free.
He loves you. Give Him a chance today.
This post was written by Rev DeCrastos. For the original post, go to: http://other-words.net/2014/03/07/created-to-change/
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