"Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God." -Romans 15:7
We have a performance complex in the world today. We tend to believe that we are accepted for what we do, not for who we are. Business works this way. Politics works this way. It's hard to focus on accepting the who versus the do, since in work situations the "do" is essential for success and profit.
But what about you and me? Are we only accepted for what we do or don't do in life? Unfortunately we will end up in depression or some other extreme behavior if we continue to believe this lie.
The truth is that God loves and accepts us before we do anything. This truth is often easy to forget. Many times in family life and upbringing, (although this should be an unconditional place of love and growth), love is based on our performance. So, as we grow up, we learn that as we do well, we get more love. But if we mess up or do the wrong thing (or things those people don't want us to do), love is withheld.
We must understand that acceptance precedes our performance. If not, we will become either gods in our own eyes if we meet those expectations, or else we will fall into despair because we are not perfect and cannot meet them. We need to instead strive to please the "audience of one," our heavenly Father himself.
Everyone wants to be loved for who they are. Do you feel loved for who you are today? Do you know without a doubt that God loves and accepts you for who He made you to be? Are you able to express this type of love (agape) to others? I pray that we will continue to realize how much our Heavenly Father loves us, in spite of and before anything we try to do to be successful.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Embracing the Tension
"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10
Have you ever felt tension in your life? There are negative tensions, like anxiety or worry, and positive tensions, like weight-training. According to Webster's online dictionary, the type of tension we're talking about means "either of two balancing forces causing or tending to cause extension".
In every life, there is a tension that exists between who we are now and who God is calling us to be. Switchfoot says it best in their song Dare to Move: "The tension is here, The tension is here; Between who you are and who you could be, Between how it is and how it should be." As Webster's indicates, tension produces our "extension".
If we aren't experiencing some sort of tension in our lives, the likelihood is that we've not yet come to the place of accepting Christ's calling to serve Him, in whatever fashion He has purposed for us in the here and now.
Tension isn't a bad thing; rather, it's a propelling force helping us to be better, and strengthening our faith as we progress. Just as the tension system in a weight machine helps us build muscle, God will put situations and people in our path to create tension to prepare us for the ultimate purpose He has for our lives. God doesn't want us to stay where we are; therefore He uses these people and situations to help us become more like Him. In tension our faith gets stronger.
If we are pursuing God's calling on our lives, tension will always exist. Why? We will always have a flesh part of us that will want to sabotage our potential in Him, (Gal 5:17) but God's redemption of our spirits and souls will always be creating the desire in us to do the good works God intends for us to do. Ultimately, we know we are being shaped for something. Our eyes look upward as we accept God's process for shaping us for His ultimate purpose for our lives.
Have you embraced the tension in your life?
Have you ever felt tension in your life? There are negative tensions, like anxiety or worry, and positive tensions, like weight-training. According to Webster's online dictionary, the type of tension we're talking about means "either of two balancing forces causing or tending to cause extension".
In every life, there is a tension that exists between who we are now and who God is calling us to be. Switchfoot says it best in their song Dare to Move: "The tension is here, The tension is here; Between who you are and who you could be, Between how it is and how it should be." As Webster's indicates, tension produces our "extension".
If we aren't experiencing some sort of tension in our lives, the likelihood is that we've not yet come to the place of accepting Christ's calling to serve Him, in whatever fashion He has purposed for us in the here and now.
Tension isn't a bad thing; rather, it's a propelling force helping us to be better, and strengthening our faith as we progress. Just as the tension system in a weight machine helps us build muscle, God will put situations and people in our path to create tension to prepare us for the ultimate purpose He has for our lives. God doesn't want us to stay where we are; therefore He uses these people and situations to help us become more like Him. In tension our faith gets stronger.
If we are pursuing God's calling on our lives, tension will always exist. Why? We will always have a flesh part of us that will want to sabotage our potential in Him, (Gal 5:17) but God's redemption of our spirits and souls will always be creating the desire in us to do the good works God intends for us to do. Ultimately, we know we are being shaped for something. Our eyes look upward as we accept God's process for shaping us for His ultimate purpose for our lives.
Have you embraced the tension in your life?
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