True You part 1
There's a lot of stuff on the surface. A lot of stuff that life has piled up on us. And a lot of the time that's all we see. Because its on the surface. Right there in our face. Staring at us. Mocking us. Daring us to defy it. But there's also something deep down inside. Ephesians 3:16 refers to it as the inner man. 1 Peter 3:4 uses the term, "hidden man of the heart." In a word, its Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. It--HE--is the true you. And here's where religion (and most of our relationships, if we're being honest) seems to miss the point: If you claim to love somebody, but are constantly trying to change them, then you don't really love THEM at all. You love whatever your idea of who you think they SHOULD BE is. And I'm convinced that that's why so many relationships fail--we don't accept people as they are. We try to make them be someone we're not. And that's why religion doesn't work either; because under religion's external behavior modifying laws we are not allowed to be ourselves. Guys. "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Corinthians 3:17). And here's the key: Where the Spirit of the Lord is. Right? And here's where the Spirit of the Lord is... He is in you! So in YOU there is liberty! Freedom! Freedom FROM sin and death. And freedom TO live and love! Freedom to be yourself. Your true self. The real you. The one that the Word of the Lord (which is Jesus, which is love) says you are. Not the lie that the world screams in your face and tries to bury you under. The still, small voice of God speaking with every beat of His heart in your chest is what sets us free and makes us free. Because that voice only says one thing. God has only ever needed one Word. He says, "I love you," with every beat of His heart in your chest. "I love you, I love you, I love you." That's how the Spirit strengthens us in the inner man. That's how the hidden man of the heart stops being hidden. And that's how you can stop trying to be someone you're not and embrace who you really are. You can stop looking down on yourself. You can stop letting that surface stuff define you. We all have things we don't like about ourselves. But guess what, self-condemnation falls under the umbrella of NO condemnation for those in Christ. And you're in Christ because Christ is in you. That Spirit that brings liberty again. So you don't have to struggle, and suffer, and drag the corpse of the old man around anymore. Your past is just that. Its past. Its over and done with. Learn from it, grow a little bit because of it, and move on. Lay aside the weight, and the sin (the unbelief, the lie) that so easily besets you. Let the voice of truth lead and guide you into ALL truth. Because the more you find out who Jesus is (again, God in the flesh, love in a body) the more you find out who you really are. And when you KNOW who you really are you can BE who you really are. And--and this is going to be a big focus of this Rant series, I think--while you (and others) are learning who you really are (and who they, themselves) really are... we can give ourselves (and each) the space, and the liberty, to learn and grow. To make mistakes. To let the true you come out. With baby steps. A little here and a little there. Until the gardner can reveal that He pruned away everything that didn't belong 2,000 years ago. He got ride of everything except Himself. Except love. Except... you!