I heard this in the DFW airport the other day, “Hey, how’s it going?” I turned around to someone I had never seen before, who immediately said, “Oh, sorry. I thought you were someone else.” I followed that statement with, “No problem. No need to apologize. I like that I am me.” I then began to wonder if the person mistook me for Jesus.I know you are laughing thinking I have finally gone off the deep end but actually I have been challenged lately wondering if what I am doing is really making a difference. I do not think it is a mid-life thing, only just an evaluation of where I am presently. (Francis Chan really voiced this thought at the Youth Pastor’s Summit in Orlando in early March.)
I love my family, my incredibly too cool wife and two beautifully, brilliant daughters, love my church, New Hope in Hermitage, and even really enjoy my job. Heck, I get to travel and encourage youth workers around the globe. It is all good. But, I wonder if it is really all that God has called me to be. I get the “doing” part of all this life stuff, it is the “being” part that seems to hang me up some times.
Do my neighbors in Lakeshore community think there is anything different about me other than I help out by cleaning gutters or raking yards? Do flight attendants notice anything differently about me? Does anyone outside of my close circle of friends really know that I love God with all my heart, soul, and mind? Do they see me loving my neighbor as myself? Do I really love myself, for who Christ has created me to be?
I speak and encourage others to become more and more like Christ but do others see me becoming more like Christ? I have discovered that I am not an objective judge of my character and behavior. I need to hear from Christ and need to hear from others that there is something different in me. Not for my glory, but for His. I desire to be mistaken for Jesus. I desire to be like Him.
2 comments:
Oh I understand this calling, I have been talking to my husband, children, SS classmates, Myself, and anyone who will listen to how can they tell I live a Holy life from the outside? How will people know me from anyone else? I think many are being called to answer this fresh breath of life from the Holy Spirit.
I believe he is talking to us in one voice, and he is saying how will you be set apart? What will you teach your child today on how to be Holy in our hearts, thoughts, mind, spirit, body, and everything else. I feel we are bring called to do so much more and to speak often as to who Jesus is personally to us.
Which is new for me! I was a chicken! Now it is coming out of my mouth faster maybe because time is so short in a lifetime.
mmm. this post is delish.
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