So interesting. I've always been fascinated with how we perceive ourselves in Christ. For instance, the idea of the priesthood of all believers is a favorite of mine. But there has always been the notion that we are missing something... that we haven't quite understood some key aspect of it all. And then I read a verse like this and it reminds me.
Oh ya, we ARE sons and daughters of the Most High. I tend to think of myself, as I have been taught, as a little Jesus growing and becoming more like Jesus everyday. But as I sit here I wonder, is this correct? Is it possible that I am not meant to live as someone who might one day be more like Jesus and then be wholly like him in death, but that we who are in Christ are to live fully as Christ NOW and in the present?
Yes I know this question leads to a difficult, "Ok buddy, it's not that easy to just be like Jesus" sort of response. What I am trying to get at though is our, or at least mine, thinking does not allow for us to be the Jesus we need to be because we are trying to hard to be someone else. What if, just what if, you could learn to believe and cherish the concept that as a son or daughter of God, you ARE a son or daughter of God? The son or daughter of God as was intended in the creation of you.
As I was thinking about this, I took up a new agreement with my brother back home in Memphis to listen to his pastor's sermons so that we could in turn grow together and have some wholesome dialogue. I listened to the sermon from January the fifth (click anywhere on this sentence to find them), and wouldn't you know it, he was preaching on "how do we live as a child of God?" (pretty good and I recommend a listen if you have time - the sermon also helps to note how we need to behave as those who are in Christ - good stuff). Nice.
To keep this short... I'll tell you one thing. I am so excited to live the rest of the day focused on being as fully a son of God as I can be - wholly myself. Yes I have lots of work to do as I become myself, but everyday I'm going to wake up and focus on my indissoluble union in God as God's son - as Brett Baddorf redeemed (I found that in the description in the online pulpit commentary and just love it).
Let us live as who we were born to be - ourselves - fully ourselves in God through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. To paraphrase a quote from the movie What About Bob, "I'm going to take baby steps on being my true self today."
