Be Yourself part 3
There's a fundamental flaw with the religious idea of "do in order to be." If you have to do something in order to be accepted, or loved... that means you aren't good enough to begin with. And if you aren't good enough to begin with, how in the world are you supposed to get better? I know you can improve yourself in some ways. Physical exercise, eating right, things of that nature. But no matter how big and strong you are, theology is not about self-improvement. It's about self-awareness. 1 Timothy 4:8 says it like this, "For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." Now add to that 2 Peter 1:3, "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue." You can't be a "better" Christian. That's not how it works. Christian means "Christ-like" right? So instead of this idea of, "I was a little be like Christ today, but I really need to work on it so I can be a better Christian," why don't we just accept the truth in 1 John 4:17, "...as he is, so are we in this world." And that takes the fundamental religious flaw completely out of the equation. We ARE good enough to begin with. We were made in the image of God. As He is, so are we in this world. We can't "get" godliness because we have already been GIVEN all things that pertain to life and godliness. The problem isn't who you are. The problem is who you THINK you are. You are complete in Him. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. How could you get any more perfect than having the Perfect One (Jesus... God in the flesh, love in a body) live inside you? But then you have to change your perception of what "perfection" is. If you think of it as never messing up... well... good luck with that. People make mistakes. The key is LEARNING from your mistakes. Learning and growing. Coming into the knowledge--heart knowledge, not just head knowledge--of who you really are. Who you are in Christ. Who Christ is in you. Perfection means maturity. And that's what the first part of 1 John 4:17 talks about: "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment..." A perfect, mature, complete love. Not something that is lacking. Not something we need. And not someONE we need to BE. It's who we ARE. Who we have always been. We just didn't know it. We thought we were no good sinners. So we tried to change by keeping the Law. But real, lasting change doesn't come from something external. It can't. It comes from something internal. The heart. It comes from the flesh of human effort being cut away by the circumcision made without hands and God revealing HIS heart--beating with love--in our chests. See, first we were MADE in God's image. But it was dark and we couldn't see who He was. We didn't know who we were. Then on the cross the light shined and we were CONFORMED to the image of His Son. We could see clearly. See HIM clearly. See OURSELVES clearly. See that we ARE good enough to be loved. And when we know that we are loved... we can love. That's why we're here. That's who we are!