Skip to main content

“Everyone in your life wants you to change.”


A thought by John Ortberg from his book, The Me I Want to Be (p. 26). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

I’m sure we live with the pressure of that being the truth.

John says, “Your boss wants you to be more productive. Your health club wants you to be more fit. Your credit card company wants you to be in more debt. Networks want you to watch more television, and restaurants want you to eat more food. Your dentist wants you to visit more often. Everybody has an agenda for you. This is the me other people want you to be.”

He goes on, “If I spend my life trying to become that me, I will never be free. Loving people means being willing to disappoint them sometimes. Jesus loved every one, but that means at some point he disappointed everyone. Seeking to become the me that other people want me to be is a hollow way to live. Nobody else can tell you exactly how to change because nobody but God knows.

“When Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on Robbins Island for his opposition to South Africa’s apartheid, he was issued a pair of shorts — not long trousers — because his captors wanted his identity to be that of a boy instead of a man. People in power over him wanted him to be a docile accepter of a racist society. Angry people who suffered with him wanted him to be a vengeful hater of their oppressors.

“Mandela was neither. During twenty-seven years in prison, he suffered and learned and grew. He called his prison ‘the University.’ He became both increasingly committed to justice and opposed to hate, and by the end of his captivity, even his guards were won over by his life. The final official charged to watch him used to cook Mandela gourmet meals. When he went from Prisoner Mandela to President Mandela, he sought to lead the country to peace through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established on the biblical principle that ‘the truth shall make you free.’

“God didn’t make you to be Nelson Mandela. He made you to be you — and no human being in your life gets the final word on who God made you to be.

“Even you can’t tell yourself how to change, because you didn’t create you. To love someone is to desire and work toward their becoming the best version of themselves. The one person in all the universe who can do this perfectly for you is God. He has no other agenda. He has no unmet needs he is hoping you can help him with. And he knows what the best version of you looks like. He delighted in the idea of it, and he is already working on it. The apostle Paul said, ‘We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.’ (Romans 8:28)”

John continues, “Which means God is at work every moment to help you become his best version of you.”

Would you ask Him to do that in you?  Would you?

Yes, yes!                                                                                                                      
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“There’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.”

A thought by Bob Goff from his book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People ( p. 41). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)   Have you ever built a sand castle or maybe a Lego castle?   Have you? Bob says, “We actually build castles all the time, out of our jobs and our families and the things we’ve purchased. Sometimes we even make them out of each other. Some of these castles are impressive too. Lots of people come to admire what we’ve built over the course of our lives and tell us what great castles we have. But Jesus told His friends we weren’t supposed to spend our lives building castles. He said He wanted us to build a kingdom, and there’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.” Bob goes on, “You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in. Castles have dungeons for people who ha...
Post a Comment
Read more

“When you understand that life is a test, you realize that nothing is insignificant in your life.”

A thought by Rick Warren, (2012-10-23) from his book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Purpose Driven Life, The) (p. 57). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. To realize that from God’s perspective life is a test goes a long way in determining how you handle your life.   It is important to see that in testing your character is both developed and revealed.   Rick goes on to say that “even the smallest incident has significance for your character development. Every day is an important day, and every second is a growth opportunity to deepen your character, to demonstrate love, or to depend on God.” So there is a God purpose behind each situation in your life.   Even the bad ones are there to strengthen you and develop you.   You see those bad situations are really good ones because they are there for your good. I start each day with a reminder that God is good.   Not every situation that is going to come in my day is good but because G...
Post a Comment
Read more

“Sometimes we think we’re stuck simply because things are hard.”

A thought by Matt Perman, from his book, How to Get Unstuck (p. 52). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.  (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the That is a possible trap for many, isn’t it? Matt says, “But if you’re continuing to make progress and aren’t experiencing huge snags, you’re not stuck. Rather, you’re in a dip. “A dip is a temporary hard slog that you will get through if you keep pushing and don’t give up. And pushing through the hard slog is actually the fastest route to the destination. In these cases, you will be especially tempted to bail. Be discerning and able to identify that you’re in a legitimate dip and you’re not a failure.” Matt says another trap to be careful of, “Some people are stuck and don’t know it.” He goes on, “Everything can be going your way, going smoothly, and going quickly. Everything feels and seems wonderful. Yet... you are still headed toward a dead end, a form of getting stuck, if you are leaving God out of t...
Post a Comment
Read more