So I’ve been thinking. I lose sight of the big picture so easily. Get bogged down in chains of denial and apathy and distraction. I forget what it’s really all about and even in my striving ironically I somehow manage to alienate myself from Him. It really is all about relationship. With Him. Period. Everything else is just a byproduct. It’s not who I am. It’s not why I’m here. It’s not important except to the extent it causes me to turn to Him, learn from Him, grow in Him. It really is all about Him and the relationship He has procured with me and desires from me.
“Having no relationship with God, humankind has likewise struggled with its personal identity and purpose for being here. Being a man or a woman may describe one’s sexuality, but it doesn’t define one’s identity. As a result of the curse, women will bear their children in pain and men shall work by the sweat of their brow. Consequently, women have historically tried to find their identity in their role as mother, and men have tried to find their identity in their careers. But what if a woman never gets married or is unable to bear children? What if the man loses his job or the ability to work? Do those men and women lose their primary identity in Christ, or their God given purpose for being here?
Trying to be our own “god” has driven people to improve their appearance, to perform better and to seek a higher social status as a means of verification. However, whatever pinnacle of self identity we manage to achieve soon crumbles under the pressure of hostile rejection or criticism, introspection or guilt, fear or anxiety. Somebody will eventually look better, perform at a higher standard and reach a greater social status. Everything we have managed to achieve or possess by human effort we shall one day lose. We are incomplete without Christ, and nothing we can do by way of self help will make us whole.
The natural person senses that something is missing but fails to fill the void by human effort. There is a longing for wholeness and a deep inner groaning as a result of its absence, but we are not alone in our groaning. “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Rom 8:22) All of creation was affected by the Fall and longs for the day of redemption.
Neil Anderson, The Daily Discipler, pp36-37
That bolded list gave me serious pause for thought this morning. What pressures work away at my identity and distract me from the reality of who I am and what I am here for? Introspection is a huge one for me. I think anxiety goes hand in hand with it as well. I spend more time thinking through things and worrying about stuff in some ridiculous manner like I can actually control the outcome if I figure it all out, that I forget that He is Lord of every situation and wants to intimately lead and guide and be One with me in and through and as a result of every single situation in my life.
How about you? Which of those heavy words weighed down by chains of bondage tend to tie you up and hold you down?
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, Hebrews 12:1-2
3 comments:
Wow, this sounds like a good read just from that brief quote.
I agree, it's all about relationship. If I neglect my time with Him, I am bogged down by just about all of these!
Love that picture.
GUILT....I live each day with tremendous guilt. Not being the mother I should, not eating what I should,not cleaning, reading, studying, helping, witnessing.............like I should. I would love to read that book. :-)
Ooooh... guilt is a big one isn't it? and such a tool of the enemy to immobilize us and keep us from flourishing. I remember the day I realized that God never makes us feel guilty and condemned but gives us a passion to be more.... I used to think it was "godly" conviction to feel guilty about all the ways I didn't measure up, then I realized it was shackles! Shackles that tied me down and kept my eyes turned inward instead of to Jesus.
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