At their core, a person, or take it one step further...at your core, you, before the fall or after Christ's redemption, are good. You are created in God's image and were never meant to "lose yourself". How do those statements make you feel? To me, those statements feel like heresy.
But it is no heresy, the secret is the tiny phrase "in Christ". In Christ I am new (2 Cor 5). In Christ the person I was created to be is the real me. God created each of us uniquely. He created us wonderfully (Ps 139). We were meant to be seen because we, the real us, reflect the glory of Christ (2 Cor 3). A phrase I've heard over and over again that sounds so godly is: "I don't want people to see me, I want people to see Christ". But this is a lie. If you are in Christ then when people see you, they'll see Christ.
After my last blog post, I've been on the journey of learning about how to feel emotions rightly. Not to shut down but also not to listen to every whim of my heart. To be healthy and grounded. And so when my sweet coworker told me about the book study her entire church is doing, "Emotionally Healthy Spirituality", I wanted in. The questions above were inspired by this book as I wrestled with the chapter, "Finding yourself to find God". The idea that God doesn't desire us to continually die to ourselves, but that our old self died with Christ already and that our new self, the self created in God's image was meant to be discovered and nurtured was a hard pill for me to swallow. As usual, I decided to take this up with Holy Spirit and Scripture and what I found surprised me. While we will lose our lives if we seek them, Scripture did seem to back up this concept of "our new self" rather than the understanding I had of my "self" being lost in Christ and that anytime that "self" popped up it was getting in the way of His glory. Our new self is created in the image of Christ, it is immersed in the depths of Christ and it is growing into His image. Would God want to hide something that looks like Him? Would He want to hide something that brings Him glory? The answer that I'm finding is no, He wouldn't.
So that begs the question, who are you in Christ? To answer that question, I'll ask another. What are your favorite parts of Christ, what is it about Him that draws you? Because those will give you a clue to who you are. For me it's these: Always there. Faithful. Rich in MERCY. Abounding in steadfast love. Beautiful, the One who paints the sky in shades of pink, purple and blue. Delightful. Glorious. Your personality is from Him. It isn't something that needs to be changed or overcome.
This journey is far from over (same with the book, I've only read 3 chapters so far!) But I'm excited to take it, and I hope that you too find the strength and support you need to take on the journey before you. Feel free to reach out to me to talk about your own journey or with Scriptures you love about this subject! And thanks for your patience with my thought jumble.
But it is no heresy, the secret is the tiny phrase "in Christ". In Christ I am new (2 Cor 5). In Christ the person I was created to be is the real me. God created each of us uniquely. He created us wonderfully (Ps 139). We were meant to be seen because we, the real us, reflect the glory of Christ (2 Cor 3). A phrase I've heard over and over again that sounds so godly is: "I don't want people to see me, I want people to see Christ". But this is a lie. If you are in Christ then when people see you, they'll see Christ.
After my last blog post, I've been on the journey of learning about how to feel emotions rightly. Not to shut down but also not to listen to every whim of my heart. To be healthy and grounded. And so when my sweet coworker told me about the book study her entire church is doing, "Emotionally Healthy Spirituality", I wanted in. The questions above were inspired by this book as I wrestled with the chapter, "Finding yourself to find God". The idea that God doesn't desire us to continually die to ourselves, but that our old self died with Christ already and that our new self, the self created in God's image was meant to be discovered and nurtured was a hard pill for me to swallow. As usual, I decided to take this up with Holy Spirit and Scripture and what I found surprised me. While we will lose our lives if we seek them, Scripture did seem to back up this concept of "our new self" rather than the understanding I had of my "self" being lost in Christ and that anytime that "self" popped up it was getting in the way of His glory. Our new self is created in the image of Christ, it is immersed in the depths of Christ and it is growing into His image. Would God want to hide something that looks like Him? Would He want to hide something that brings Him glory? The answer that I'm finding is no, He wouldn't.
So that begs the question, who are you in Christ? To answer that question, I'll ask another. What are your favorite parts of Christ, what is it about Him that draws you? Because those will give you a clue to who you are. For me it's these: Always there. Faithful. Rich in MERCY. Abounding in steadfast love. Beautiful, the One who paints the sky in shades of pink, purple and blue. Delightful. Glorious. Your personality is from Him. It isn't something that needs to be changed or overcome.
This journey is far from over (same with the book, I've only read 3 chapters so far!) But I'm excited to take it, and I hope that you too find the strength and support you need to take on the journey before you. Feel free to reach out to me to talk about your own journey or with Scriptures you love about this subject! And thanks for your patience with my thought jumble.
