I Am Who I Am

I wrote this on my facebook page: I am who I am and God is willing to work with that. He does not expect me to be perfect but to seek His perfection. There is a big difference in the two. The first is not possible but the second is a continual process.

What keeps a lot of people from attending church is a preception that those already attending are sinless or nearly sinless. It is true we are to be pursuing a life without sin but the truth is we will never actually reach that destination in this life. My vision is of a church where people come as they are warts and wrinkles and all. I do not mean they come content with who they are but real about who they are and what baggage they carry.

Let me break down the above statement.

I am who I am. I am not sure what your age is but during the course of your life you have become a certain personality and you have certain wounds and yes sin in your life. You are who you are.

God is willing to work with that. Believe it or not God is pursuing you just as you are. He is not waiting for you to clean yourself up because if He did that it would never happen. Let's be honest with ourselves we are a mess and well we have things hiding in our closets we do not want anyone to know about. The true is God already knows and He still wants to have a relationship with YOU. 

Romans 5: 6-8 (The Message) Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn't, and doesn't, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.

He does not expect me to be perfect but to seek His perfection. A lot of energy could be put into what really counts if we could only accept what God knows about us and that is we can never be perfect. What God does expect us to do is to hunger for righteousness.

Matthew 5:6 (New International Version) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

The first is not possible but the second is a continual process.

I do not care who you are or how much Biblical knowledge you have you will never reach the goal of perfection as a human being apart from the full measure of God's Holy Spirit. 

2 Peter 3: 18 Instead, continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Messiah. Glory belongs to him both now and on that eternal day! Amen.

Growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus is a life long process and God is willing to work with who we are until the day He changes us completely.

Until then I will admit "I am who I am" and I am thankful that "God is willing to work with that".

Encouraging Words - Stories for a Man's Heart

     Someone has said that encouragement is simply reminding a person of the "shoulders" he's standing on, the heritage he's been given. That's what happened when a young man, the son of a star baseball player, was drafted by one of the minor league teams. As hard as he tried, his first season was disappointing, and by midseason he expected to be released any day.

    The coaches were bewildered by his failure because he possessed all the characterisitics of a superb athlete, but he couldn't seem to incorporate those advantages into a coordinated effort. He seemed to have become disconnected from his potential.

    His future seemed darkest one day when he had already struck out his first time at bat. Then he stepped up to the batter's box again and quickly ran up two strikes. The catcher called a time-out and trotted to the pitcher's mound for a conference. While they were busy, the umpire, standing behind the plate, spoke casually to the boy.

     Then play resumed, the next pitch was thrown--and the young man knocked it out of the park. That was the turning point. From then on, he played the game with a new confidence and power that quickly drew the attention of the parent team, and he was called up to the majors.

     On the day he was leaving for the city, one of his coaches asked him what had caused such a turnaround. The young man replied it was the encouraging remark the umpire had made that day when his baseball career had seemed doomed.

     "He told me I reminded him of all the times he had stood behind my dad in the batter's box," the boy explained. "He said I was holding the bat just the way Dad had held it." And he told me, 'I can see his genes in you; you have your father's arms.' After that, whenever I swung the bat, I just imagined I was using my Dad's arms instead of my own."     - by Barbara Johnson from "We Brake for Joy!"

This story speaks to me in several ways:

First, as a follower of Jesus I must consider who my Father is. The Father who loved Jesus so much also loves me. - John 3: 16

Second, as one of the Father's kids I have to remember whose strength I can operate in. By being a follower of Jesus, the Father has come to dwell in me by the Holy Spirit. - John 14: 16

And Third, when I am faced with struggles and need encouragement I need to have confidence in what the Father will do by the power of the Holy Spirit in my life. - Acts 1: 8

If you are a follower of Jesus you have the same ministry that He mentioned in Luke 4: 18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.

I encourage you to remember whose shoulders you stand upon anduse your talents and gifts to reach those who waiting to hear the truth that the Holy Spirit has to deliver through you.