November 26
DebDay 257: Better Hope Not!
I heard it said again yesterday: "It's just who I am." Translated to mean, I will continue to demand and expect the world to adapt to me.
There are determinants that affect who we each become. The gene pool we are born to swim in certainly qualifies and qualifies as something we have no control over. Our past experiences and present situations, good and bad, also have impact.
But the third, and perhaps most influential upon us is, of course, our choices. We've each made choices that have colored our past experiences. And we make choices today as to how we will look back. Live today. And move forward. Or not.
Maybe the option of "It's just who I am" is the optimum option taken by many. It requires little of us, while anticipating everyone else's cooperation.
Here's an old joke. How many psychologists does it take to change a lightbulb? Only one; but the lightbulb has to really want to change.
Conversely, and to the contrary, our Bibles teach us that change and adaptation are essential for present and future. Revelation 22:14 talks about change, adaptation, using the metaphor of laundry.
"Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates."
To enter the New Jerusalem, to forever enjoy the very presence of our Savior, to see the face of God, requires we be changed into new robes. Jesus has changed His sheep on the inside.
And we're told to participate in our change, both inside and outside. The entrance fee into the new heavens and new earth is a changed life.
The change required is twofold. We are to change from believing the lie that we are determined if not imprisoned by our past (God can't do enough), And, we change away from believing that everyone else, God included, must bow to us (making us our own god.)
The good news of Jesus is a change announcement. The gospel proclaims how we can be made different, more like our Creator, in love with His Son our Savior. All that is asked of us is that we want that change, because we want that relationship.
With you, I am today celebrating Thanksgiving (in a smaller group than other years, of course.) What I am most thankful for? I am not who I was, not who I would be aside from Jesus changing my choices, and thus changing my life.
"It's just who I am?" Better hope not!
-Mike Rydman, Lead Pastor, Radiant Church Juneau
