Be Yourself part 2
I've found, through much trial and error, that I can't be anybody but me. Everytime I try to go against my nature, I end up completely frustrated. And I usually make things worse, even when I'm trying to make them better. It's like this: Have you ever heard the saying, "Stay in your lane"? That's kind of what I'm talking about. There are things you are good at, and there are things you are not good at. Same with me. Same with everybody. So instead of trying to do things you weren't created to do... "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called" (Ephesians 4:1). The NLT reads, "...lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God." In other words: Be yourself. The only way you can live a life worthy of your calling is by living YOUR life. Don't try to be someone you're not. It's impossible. And don't try to live Jesus' life, either. Nobody can live Jesus' life except Jesus. Just understand that He IS your life... that HE is living His own life in you, and through you, and as you... and do everything you do from the heart. I really believe that's the key to living. Because to live is to love, and to love is to live. So if you aren't following your heart... if you're looking for love in all the wrong places... then you're robbing yourself of the gift you've been given. AND you're robbing others of experiencing that gift. Because to live is to love and to love is to live... and love is giving. I've heard it said you can give without loving but you cannot love without giving. And REAL love, that agape love that God is, is giving yourself. Everything you have and everything you are. Not denying yourself, but embracing yourself. Watch this now--when you embrace yourself, you embrace others. Because when you accept yourself for who and what you are... when you fill yourself to overflowing with what you've already been filled with... it comes out naturally. I'm telling you, this life isn't supposed to be an uphill battle. It's supposed to be a flow. An outpouring of the indwelling Spirit. Quick aside, I'm not saying everything in life comes easy. Of course it doesn't. I'm speaking Spiritually. And Spiritually speaking, works don't work. But when you do what you do from a posture of rest... when you drink of the living water that is Jesus... that's when it flows out of your belly--your heart, your innermost being--like a river of living water. That's my point. It's not about trying really hard to be someone your not, or get something you haven't got. It's about knowing and believing that you are exactly who you're supposed to be. And then just being yourself. You know that thing in your heart that either fires you up or makes you feel completely at peace? Sometimes at the same time? That's YOU. Do that thing. Do it as big, and as loud, and as proud as you can. (Unless that thing is murdering people, or committing some other crime. But those things don't come from the heart. So obviously that's not what I'm talking about.) What's in you WILL come out. As long as you know and believe it's in there. The love of God WILL fill you to overflowing as you receive it, and release it. And that's who you really are; God's love letter to the world. He is love and He expresses Himself TO you, and IN you, and THROUGH you!