Be Who God Made You To Be…

Or, I could have simply said, “Be yourself,” but, being yourself means sometimes I’m selfish, or cranky, or envious…sometimes I whine or get angry needlessly.  The person I let myself be doubts my abilities, or sometimes wishes I could be like someone else.  Sometimes I criticize my appearance, and sometimes, I don’t put others before myself.  Did I mention that I can be negative?

I heard an amazing quote from speaker Staci Mason at church last night:  “Who you are should be defined by the Lord you follow.”  Isn’t that great? I have to say, that quote totally pierced my heart!  Does He define me? Do I give Him that place in my heart? Am I in fellowship with Him?

God wants me to be more like Him and less like…well…the person I often let myself be. 

I feel like in raising children, I’ve learned the most about the way in which God desires us to be.  We’ve been teaching the little Mr. the concept of ‘put-off/put-on’.  It goes something like this:

When the little Mr. is doing something that is say, selfish or rude, we teach him to ‘put-off’ rudeness, and ‘put-on’ patience, kindness and self-control.  We follow it with explaining that God desires us to to be kind to one another Ephesians 4:32 and share with him the Biblical truth that God points us to in His word.

In teaching our kids this, I am often sooooooooo convicted.  I have realized that God desires so much more from me than I am often willing to give Him.  I’ve learned that the person I often let myself be is not who He has created me to be. He created me to be in fellowship with Him.  He created me to desire Him.  He created me to reflect Him…so what kind of reflection do others see?

For me, Being yourself is more than personality, I’m learning it’s being a person after God’s own heart.  A person who is willing to cast aside selfishness and do His will.  A person desiring to allow Him to mold my heart and fashion me after Him.  Sounds so easy, right?

Matthew 12:4  Out of the overflow of your heart the mouth speaks. 

When my heart is more in-tune with God, then my thoughts, the words I speak, and my actions are more like Him. 

Looking at the book of Psalms, King David was in heavy pursuit of God.  He cried out to Him, leaned on Him for understanding, and praised Him for the character of His goodness.  King David was described as, “A man after God’s own heart.” Acts 13:22

King David wasn’t perfect…far from it.  He made a lot of mistakes, and even disobeyed a time or two.  But, His pursuit of God never waned, and His desire to allow God to mold him was there. 

These days, I have a lot to ‘put-off’ in order to ‘put-on’ the character of Christ, striving to be who God made me to be.

What about you?  What are you learning/challenged of in your walk with the Lord?

 

Happy Thursday!