This is for you

Yes, you. You’re so smart and capable. Well-liked and innovative. You hustle and problem-solve with the best of us. You set goals and measure your progress. You take stock every night, and wake up to new plans every morning. You make the lists and check the boxes. You’re independent and savvy. You have common sense and a quick wit. You are self-sufficient, task-oriented, and knowledgeable. You get things done! In the back of your mind though, you wonder how long you can keep up. You look to see if you measure up. You may even be fed up.

I wish you could know just how empty it all is. How vain it is to try and hold it all together in your own strength. I have lived in my own strength, and in that place, my capability was the substitute for His power. My gifts and talents were cheap reflections of the Giver and the Creator. My way resulted in awards and certificates and accolades and greater responsibilities. It also resulted in strife and quarrels, fears and greediness. But the truth is, I needed neither that recognition, nor any of the heartache. None of world’s applause matters, and its rejection is inevitable. My life is futile, if I am not connected to the Vine and living from His supply. He has promised His grace is sufficient for me. His grace is most evident in my weakness. It is in my weakness that there is no prop found in this temporary realm that is satisfactory, acceptable or adequate, and that includes all of my competence and usefulness. Apart from Him, I can do nothing.

We are living in a temporary realm that readily blinds us, seduces us, and traps us. Do you know what my gracious and merciful Father shows me often? I am poor and needy…and Jesus is the answer. He is always the Answer. Precious reader, we can’t do this life on our own, no matter how capable we seem to be. And, if we have come to trust Christ as the Finished Life, we need Him to live ours. This is a truth that the world wants to pull us away from. We are stroked daily and told how awesome we are, or given things we can do to achieve awesome. The question I ask myself: Awesome according to whom? What standard are we using to measure? This question keeps me on the right track, attached to the Life and humble enough to receive It. The same way I received Christ is the same way I’m supposed to live. By faith. This is an overwhelming and redeeming truth. It will likely take the rest of my life to realize it.

Relationship

I am discovering just how pervasive and insidious the performance-based mentality is to those of us living the Free Life. When we come to Christ, instead of focusing on learning His voice and His ways, we allow everyone else to stand in for Him and tell us how to do the life. These guidelines and regulations can appear good, like guardrails along a dangerous road. But I’ve heard many accounts where these very same guardrails became prison bars inhibiting the freedom and faith we were born into. Now, it’s not that I think many people are malicious or unkind in their attempts to tell us how to live the life. They can be zealous and sincere, and still be wrong in what we need. If we recognize this New Life as a relationship, why do we suppose this relationship will be the same for any two people? I am reminded of how I am a mom to three very different, unique and amazing children. And while I am the same person, the way I relate to each of my kids is very different, unique and amazing, simply because they are each their own person, and each of them behold me differently. They each receive discipline differently. One is sensitive to tone of voice, another to my facial expressions. They each receive love differently. One enjoys hugs and words, another enjoys gifts. Wouldn’t it make sense that every one of us relate to Jesus differently? Why would we think to impose our way of relating to Him on anyone else?

In examining the performance-based system, I find there are people who like to judge my life and offer rewards for my good behaviors/performance, and gleefully dole out punishment for my negative performance. This is the result of rules and regulations being exalted over relationships. I know the Bible, and the many commands it contains. I also know that I am completely incapable of keeping any of them on my own. I have tried! And I have had well-meaning people to counsel me to ‘just obey Scripture’. As I continue to gain wisdom, I see that there is a connection between knowing what to do, and having the Counselor show me the proper way and appropriate time to do it. Obedience has a timing component to it. Instead of reading the Word as an instruction book where I generate lists of commands to accomplish, I see it as a revealing of Who God is, especially in Christ, and realize He wants to inhabit me, to live my life His way. That means all of the ‘commands’ would be accomplished by Him in the order and timing He desires. I would be allowed to simply grow as He intended, abiding in His love, knowing He will accomplish His purposes. Can you sense the freedom here? This is what it means to walk in the Spirit. In my own power, I can do the right things. Even the right things can be harmful when done with the wrong motive or at an inappropriate time. Rather than scrutinize myself for every possible shortcoming, I choose to humbly and simply fix my eyes on Christ, and follow His voice. Trusting Him with my walk allows room for His grace to permeate all of me.

Boundless creativity

My Father is infinitely creative. You know this to be true. Look at the sunrises and sunsets, animals and plants, and His crowning achievement: people. With His limitless creativity, He has fashioned people in His image. In fact, as His children, we are being conformed into the image of His Son. Still, we are so individual. Unique. When He calls us into relationship with Him, we don’t lose our personality, or our quirks. We submit our uniqueness to Him, and He begins the work of infiltrating every fiber of our soul with His love. His love changes us, and to the world we live in, it may look backward or upside-down, but really we are being re-oriented to the Kingdom way. Somehow, our infinitely creative God will have sons and daughters who are conformed to Christ and yet, still look like themselves! It’s like a beautiful score of music, where there are many parts that make up one song. Unity and harmony. Or like a tapestry with lots of threads and colors and textures, but one scene. Unity and diversity. You will not be me, and I will not be you. There is no mold to fit in to. The main thing we should focus on is learning our Shepherd’s voice, obeying Him and thanking Him along the way. Then, we will be fully equipped for the part He has ordained us to play, with His guidance, His giftings and especially His grace.

I think this may be the rearranging of my understanding of the greatest commandment. Love the Lord your God with all of you (heart, soul, mind, and strength). How can I even possibly, unless I realize the truth of Him in all of me? And this is not a conjuring trick. I can’t simply will myself to love. To turn to Him, I realize He wants all of my capabilities and strengths, my personality and life, and He doesn’t stop there. He wants my weaknesses and fears, failures and sins. He wants my past and my present so He can shape my future. When I confessed Jesus as Lord, He began the good work of conforming me, and He is faithful to finish His work. This doesn’t mean that I passively sit myself on a shelf, but that I pray for wisdom and understanding and allow Him to sort my soul from my spirit. If I am to know myself, I must know Him, and the most reliable way I have found is through His Word. It is not burdensome to familiarize myself with the stories of Jesus. It is not a chore to then read how Paul, James, John, Peter and others lived from knowing Christ. This is how I learn His worth, and then see Him in my own life. I don’t have to worry that I am messing up His plan. His plan all along has been to make a family and a temple. We are the brothers and sisters; the living stones!

Let’s begin again. This is for you. Yes, you. You’re so smart and capable. Well-liked and innovative. You hustle and problem-solve with the best of us. You set goals and measure your progress. You take stock every night, and wake up to new plans every morning. You make the lists and check the boxes. You’re independent and savvy. You have common sense and a quick wit. You are self-sufficient, task-oriented, and knowledgeable. You get things done!

And you should know, none of these things are bad. You were fearfully and wonderfully made, just like the rest of us. It is not up to you and your capability to conform yourself to His image. Don’t be afraid to be connected to the True Vine. Are you ready to transfer the Lordship privileges of your life to the One who created it? My friend, He waits for you to take His yoke, to yield to His rest. His invitation stands. Learn from Him and let Him live through you, all while being yourself. He is certainly trustworthy.