True You part 2
You are not what people call you. But you ARE what you answer to. That's why its so important to know who you are. Who you REALLY are. Who you are in Christ. Which is who Christ is in you. Its basically what Jesus was saying in Matthew 6:24 (NLT), "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." And by "money" I think we can agree that the other master is the world. Because while money might not be ALL the world cares about, it certainly seems to be what the world cares about the most. And here's the tragic part... even though the world screams in our faces, telling us what's wrong with us and demanding that we be someone we're not... its really easy to be devoted to that. To spend (WASTE) our whole lives trying to fit into that box. Trying to be someone we're not in order to get the approval that is dangled like a carrot on the end of a stick. The problem, of course, is that you can never get the carrot. Because the stick always moves just a little bit further away at the last minute. Jesus spoke to this idea too. "The man replied, 'I've obeyed all these commandments since I was young.' When Jesus heard his answer, he said, 'There is still one thing you haven't done. Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.' But when the man heard this he became very sad, for he was very rich" (Luke 18:21-23 NLT). The KJV puts it like this, "...Yet lackest thou one thing..." When you're trying to be someone you're not, in order to get something that you think you haven't got, there is always one thing you lack. You can obey all of the external commandments, and try your best to be who the world wants you to be, but it will never give you what you're looking for. Because what you're looking for isn't in the world. It is in YOU. Its the inner man. The hidden man of the heart. That acceptance that the world dangles in front of you, but never quite lets you get, is the acceptance that Jesus GAVE when He opened His arms wide on the cross and wrapped you in His loving embrace. He said, "I love you just the way you are. And I would rather die than be without you." That's true love. And that's what we have already been given. That's the gift of God. Eternal life. Knowing the Father in the context of being His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Knowing that you are exactly who you are supposed to be. Not some glad morning when you (somehow) make yourself better. But right now. The problem isn't who you are. The problem is who you BELIEVE you are. When you let the world define you... when you let your past hold you down and hold you back... when you do things for money because you think that's as good as its going to get... that's when you lose your true self. You believe the lie. And, in a twisted way, you start to love the lie. You think it makes sense. You become devoted to it. There's a line in a movie that goes something like this, "They treated him like a monster, so he started to act like one." That's what happens when that's all you hear. But there's a more excellent way. The other choice. Not what the world is screaming at you, but what the still, small voice of God is whispering inside you with every beat of His heart in your chest. The voice of truth saying, "I love you... I love you... I love you..."