Transformed into my image of Him?
In the last few weeks, I've been seeing, listening, talking with, all sorts of different people. Each one a seasoned Christian, but so very different in their expression of God. I also just finished reading "The Jesus I never knew" by Phillip Yancey (side note: A book well worth reading), which only added to my reflection.
So here goes. I work in an environment where we seek to train others to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. Some speak of being transformed into his image. This, I believe, is a calling on my life; to facilitate people becoming more like Christ (all the time seeking to become more like Christ myself). But now I've got to thinking; How often do we seek to help people grow into, not the image of Jesus, but into OUR image of who Jesus is? Now let's be honest with ourselves, I do it myself, we judge people's "Christian growth" through how much they fit into our view of who Jesus is. Just look at our churches. We create so many molds and boxes that push conformity of expression, and preach submission to those who don't fit the mold. We create lists that people need to live by, and, knowingly or not, seek to control behaviour, again, to conform it.
So why do I bring this up? Simple, the only thing we are to conform to is the charater of Jesus. God is a God of diversity, and our expression of Him is to be diverse. If every person who is alive, add that to everyone who has ever lived, expresses part of who God is differently (and I believe they (we) do), He will not have been fully expressed. That's how great He is. Yet we seek to conform expression to what we know and what is comfortable and feels nice.
We need to be constantly seeking who Jesus is, and how that affects our choices, things we need to change, etc. That's our personal duty. On top of that, we need to be asking God to show us how He is working in the lives of others around us. We need to trust in the greatness of God to be working in the hearts of people.
Now thankfully (or not, depending on how you see it) God calls us to work with Him in the restauration of our world. This includes interacting with people as we all journey to be more like Jesus. This is an awesome responsibility, not to be taken lightly. This is why we should be quick to listen (so we can see what God is doing in the person's life) and slow to speak (so we don't "give advice" or judge, and possibly mess up what God is doing). If God wants us to speak into someone's life, he will guide us in our speech, but even then, we need to be humble about it and act with "fear and trembling" when dealing with the lives of individuals. We are not God. Therefore, let us be humble and obeidient to God when interacting with those around us.
Hope this makes sense.
posted by Ben Peterson @ 10:56 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
When I talked to Grampa J about this area, he said: "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink". This helped me out. You can live it and sometimes you get the opportunity to explain why you have certain convictions. There are also times when you feel to speak into someone's live, like when they are jumping off a sin cliff and it will destroy them. Proverbs says that the wounds of a friend are better than the kisses of an enemy. But you for sure can't continually cram stuff down people's throats (unless you are a preacher :) The most important thing is praying for people and loving people and living it and like you said, obeying God. Good Thoughts. Micah
Hi Ben,
I was going to copy and paste one of your sentences that seems to be a bit unclear. I get the gist of what you're wanting to say in it, but I think you typed a word or two that were different from what you were thinking. That was probably the linguist and perhaps perfectionist in me. However, I was also motivated by a desire for everyone to understand clearly what you're getting across; I guess that's the translator/interpreter in me. I refrained, because I think everyone will understand what you are saying without perfect grammar. I wonder how often God sees things in us that He would like to point out to correct, but refrains, 'cause He knows it will work itself out in time, and that there are more important things to transform in us than the minor things...I'm thinking "out loud" so sorry if this is pathetic, but in another way, I hope that somewhere in my rambling, a glimpse of Christ will be expressed in a unique way!
Oops!
I'd also like to add that I think you've got some excellent points in this post, Ben!
I pray God will continue to flood the eyes of our hearts with His light so we can know Him better as we see Him in others, like you said.
Thanks!
I think that's a great analogy Shiloh.
Thanks
Post a Comment
<< Home