Who I Am In Christ

I've been reflecting on that verse 'Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect' (Matt 5:48)...

...and it strikes me that I am reading it through a lense which gives me a certain perspective on that verse.  If I deliberately take my lense off and re-read that verse then my reaction to it is quite different.  What I read now makes me feel ... condemned because I am not perfect ... stressed because I cannot achieve what is being asked of me ... defeated before I even start ... a whole bunch of 'oughts' & 'shoulds' whirling in my brain ... in short I feel horrible and upset.  Not good!

And yet with my lense in place I don't feel any of those negative things.  So what is my lense?  I am aware that I am reading it through my freedom in Christ.

Over the last few years I have been wrestling to live more and more in the freedom that Christ brings us (Jn 8:36).  I think probably this journey has been going on my whole life, and I suspect that until the day I pop my clogs I will not have fully plumbed its depths.  That said I think maybe I have grasped something of that freedom more intensely in recent years and that maybe God needed me to learn that first so that He could now to talk to me about this stuff - the how are we to be stuff.  Love it when God's plan comes together :)

My freedom in Christ ...
... I am accepted: God loves me AND even likes me for who I am
... I am forgiven: there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ
... I am a saint: when God looks at me He sees the holiness that is already mine in Christ
... I am significant: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me
... the list goes on in more and more marvellous truths - what a gift from God that he should see me that way!

The bible tells us to renew our minds (Rom 12:2) and getting to grips with who I am in Christ is definitely a case of needing to renew my mind with these truths every day.  Not to believe the little voice in my head that tells me I am foolish, unlikeable, that I must be good to please, that I 'ought' & 'should' or else...  And as it turns out renewing my mind with Christ's freedom is totally fundamental to everything in the Christian life.  Including my reading of the New Testament's instructions on how we are to be with each other as a church.  Huh!  Fancy! ;)

So before I wade any further into the New Testament re how we are to be, I am just reminded to focus first and foremost who I am to be.  And from that position then, d'you know what?  I am going to give being perfect a shot!

with love, kx

PS resources below

• Henri Nouwen 8 part series on youtube 'Becoming the Beloved'  Link to part 1 below (Thank you Helen E for introducing me to this stuff!!!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFWfYpd0F18

• Neil Andersen's list of Who I Am In Christ:

Why am I blogging?

Some time ago my counsellor (yes, you all know already that I am a therapist junkie) set me a challenge: to read through the New Testament looking for what God's Word has to say about how we are to be with each other.  How are we to treat each other, communicate with each other, behave around each other, etc and specifically in the context of a church community.  My immediate thought was: 'Well, I know what the Bible says.  I've been a Christian long enough'.  But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that while I have a general sense of what the Bible says in this area, I couldn't list specific verses, nor would I find it easy to sit down and off the top of my head write a code for church conduct listing vision and values for how we are to treat each other.  I would find it easier to say how are Christians to be in contrast to how the world is - what makes us salt and light when we are out there (Matt 5:13-16). But how are we to be in church?  Hmm...

To be honest I am a bit gob-smacked by this realisation.  Is it maybe easier to be counter cultural in respect to the world than it is in church?  I mean, I don't have to be very salty maybe to be more salty than the world.  But maybe in contrast to other Christians I am not shining very brightly at all.  Not that I am trying to compete you understand, its just that maybe I have realised I have a long way still to go.  Jesus says: Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matt 5:48) not be a bit more perfect than those in the world.

I feel deeply challenged but I am up for learning & growing!  My prayer is that God would search me and purify me (Ps 51), that He would show me where He still has work to do in me, that I might co-operate with Him and walk in step with the Spirit (Gal 5:16-18).  And maybe you feel the same way too.  I which case lets learn and grow together, learn to love each other in such a way that the world may see that we are His disciples (Jn 13:35)