He Knows YOU

In a worlds of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn it is often difficult to separate truth from reality, isn’t it? Big smiles can hide broken hearts. Resumes can be doctored to make an impression unrelated to the actual life of the person. Even the royals of Britain got caught publishing an edited picture of a Princess last week for reasons unknown.

When I was serving as pastor, I desired to lead a congregation that placed high value on being authentic, so that the people who gathered were willing to be no more and no less than they were. They could weep if necessary, find support in their times of failure, admit to doubts and fears, and celebrate true victories. The kind of openness can be messy. Sometimes we just want to put on smile and sing loudly so that others think everything is 'just fine' in life. Yes, I understand that social necessity requires some restraint of us. I make no case for excessive drama, but we need to work at being at home in our own skin, willing to be who we are without comparison.

Here is my question today - an important one.
Are you actually that person you try to make others believe that you are?

The place to begin is with self-awareness.
How clearly do you see your own values, understand your motives, define your real hopes and dreams, and fit into your circle of friends and co-workers? 
Do you really knowyou’re your reactions including your thoughts, emotions, behaviors, strengths, and weaknesses affect the people around you? 

People who are damaged emotionally by abuse or rejection, especially early in life, can struggle to escape the skewed understanding of themselves even as mature adults. People who have power and influence also can lose touch with themselves, accustomed to others telling them what they want to hear.

Christians can become more self-aware as they learn the discipline of silence and contemplative prayer, stepping out of the noise of living in a place where the Holy Spirit’s whisper can be heard. Jesus promised that He, the Spirit, would ‘guide us into all truth’ and that includes understanding ourselves better. When we become more authentic; owning our successes and failures, grasping the strengths and weaknesses, using the gifts that God has given us without coveting those of another, we are liberated from that awful ‘need to succeed’ that drives millions to create phony public images. Jesus says, “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought." (Matthew 5:5, The Message)

Please do not think that this kind of humility is to be confused with apathy, nor should we confuse being ‘contented’ with laziness. The Creator, our God, is worthy of our best and highest efforts in life:  our personal best, not what others say it ought to be. It is hard to measure ‘best’ without comparing ourselves to others but that will lead us into the trap of image building and pride.  Comparison will cause us to seek approval or to live in self-condemnation.  We are socially trained to this. From the earliest days of schooling we get report cards and take tests that rank us based on our achievement. In fact, we cannot all be brilliant, top of the class!  That is why God will never grade us in comparison. He sees us in totality - our personality, our opportunties, our training, our skills, our ability - asks that we live for His applause, using the gifts and opportunities presented to us to please Him.

I need to remind myself… and I’ll remind you … of this liberating fact: 
The One who knows you best, loves you most! 

Yes, He wants us to deal with our sins, to develop our gifts; but He does not want us to lose ourselves to the pressures of performance laid on us by our world.  He has prepared a place for YOU and ME in His world and the Church that no one else can fill.  He has uniquely equipped you to be a part of His faithful people who are sent to change the world. Paul was inspired by the Spirit to teach us that "There are different ways God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work through all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church." (1 Corinthians 12:6-7, NLT)  What has He formed YOU to be?

Here is a word from the Word.  Let this wisdom remove the pressure to ‘be somebody’ from you, an invitation to serve the living Lord authentically.

"Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is. As God's messenger, I give each of you this warning: Be honest in your estimate of yourselves, measuring your value by how much faith God has given you." (Romans 12:2-3, NLT)

He knows YOU. Know yourself. It is the best way to live!

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(Video of this blog at this link)

Dressed Up?

America has become casual about the way in which we dress. 4 decades ago I always wore a jacket and tie for pastoral ministry. That was an unspoken expectation. In earliest years a black suit was the daily ‘uniform.’  For the last decade, I wore blue jeans even on Sundays except for holidays.  Remember when people ‘dressed up’ to travel by air?  That traditions is long gone! Now you see gym clothes and even pajamas on flights. Since retiring from full-time ministry, I have worked part-time for a local funeral home as an attendant. Yes, you guessed it - I’m back to more formal attire- dark suit and tie for those days.

So let’s get to the spiritual application today.  
Do you ‘wear’ Christ each day?
Are you clothed in the gifted garments He provides to cloth our souls?

Paul spoke of ‘being clothed’ to describe the holy calling of Christians. In writing to the Galatians, a group of Christians who were ‘looked good’ on the outside, with a form of religion based on their own efforts, he told them that the real transformation, the genuine Christian life, resulted from a gift: "for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." (Galatians 3:27, NIV)  Pressing the metaphor, he reminded them that the clothing of Christ erased all the class distinctions that came from the kind of clothing they wore.  Rigid class distinctions that separated people, noted by the cut and quality of their clothing, disappeared when they put on Christ. "There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28-29, NLT)

Jesus, when He was ending His earthly mission, told the disciples that God would open the wardrobe of Heaven and dress them up to for His work. He said, "I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49, NIV) Remember the awesome account of Pentecost (Acts 2) when these ordinary men from obscure origins became world-changers?  They were dressed in the Spirit, given authority, wisdom, and influence that still flows down through the centuries to us. My prayer today is not for smarter Christians, richer Christians, or better educated Christians. I pray that we will be ‘dressed up’ newly clothed with the Spirit, marked by Him as the people of the Lord.

 

Let’s take a cue from those first disciples who were promised a new suit from the Spirit. They did not go buy it somewhere. They waited for the Lord to bring His Presence to them.  When the Spirit came at Pentecost (See Acts 2) they were notably different, clothed in God’s goodness, granted the ability to serve Him.

 

Ever wake up late, rushing through the morning, pressed by urgent demands of life, throwing on an outfiit without thought?  What a difference when we plan an evening out, looking over the closet, choosing the clothing that makes us feel ‘just right.’ Let’s not rush into life without the clothes of the Spirit!  Let’s take time each day to pray, to meditate, to invite Christ to clothe us. Without that we are vulnerable to temptation and we will show others the goodness and the ‘glory’ He desires us to display.

We must spend time in the Presence of the Father, letting Him clothe us with His Presence.
We must learn to live in this day – asking Him where we can serve, what we need to know, and to show Himself through us by wrapping us in glorious robes of righteousness not of our own making.

John, in the amazing picture language of Revelation (the Apocalypse) borrows the clothing metaphor to describe the eternal state of the people of God.  Take this word from the Word with the prayer that God will dress you up, prepare you for His service, and make you as powerful as Gideon in building His kingdom in your world. 

"After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands." (Revelation 7:9, NLT)  "Then one of the twenty-four elders asked me, “Who are these who are clothed in white? Where did they come from?” And I said to him, “Sir, you are the one who knows.” Then he said to me, “These are the ones who died in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white." (Revelation 7:13-14, NLT)

Lord, clothe us in Your holy Presence. Amen!

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(Video of this blog at this link)

 

 Dress us in beauty, Father.

Help us to discard our self-righteousness,

To let You make us resplendent with holiness,

Radiant with the Spirit.

 

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.