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The Person We Long To Be

Last week I shared with you some wisdom a friend offers from time to time: “Give up all hope of a better past.” It makes so much sense, for we waste a lot of life reliving, regretting or resenting that which is now gone and forever unchangeable. We can learn from our past and apply life’s lessons—indeed we should—but we do well to engage life as it comes, with well-placed hope and confidence. “Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,” wrote David, “for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.”1

This week, I offer a corollary to my friend’s maxim: “Give up all hope of a better flesh.” In a Biblical sense, “flesh” can mean our sin nature, or more relatably it is that self-willed part of us that wants to live life on our terms and not God’s. It presents itself in many ways: greed, manipulation, apathy, arrogance, infidelity, fear, unforgiveness, dishonesty, self-righteousness . . . we know this all too well. We try so hard, day after day, to remove our flaws, but they are deeply rooted; on our own we can only prune them for appearances’ sake. We can modify our behavior to an extent or for a time, but we cannot by our own effort change our flesh.

And this is good news! For God has provided a better way: we do not change our old self and its sinful nature; we exchange it for a new self, created to be like Jesus.2 Wrote Paul, “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here!”3 Our sin no longer disparagingly defines us, nor must our sin nature callously control us, for God has given us the means to live a renewed life in Him. Long ago He foretold, “I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”4 And in Christ, God has done so, for through faith, the Spirit of Christ lives in us,5 just as God promised He would. The life of the Christian, then, is not the fruitless toil of self-help; rather it is believing who God is in us, receiving what He is doing in us, and submitting to His call in us. We will become the person we long to be, for He makes us so.

Father, thank You for making me new and for changing who I am. “I put my trust in You. Show me the way I should go, for to You I entrust my life.” In Christ and by the power of the Spirit I pray. Amen.

1 Psalm 143:8
2 Ephesians 4:22-24
3 2 Corinthians 5:17
4 Ezekiel 36:27
5 Romans 8:9-10

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Regret or Rejoice!

“Ninety percent of the regrets I’ve had in life have been a failure in a crisis of faith,” confessed my friend. These were times when, in his words, he “succumbed to fear over faith.” He went on to recall a time when the Spirit urged him to take a step of faith and speak to a stranger about Jesus—“It was as close to an audible voice as you can get,” he told me, but he remained silent in the moment and has carried regret ever since. We can all relate, can’t we? Yes, every single one of us can relate, for we’ve all floundered in similar circumstances and walked away in guilt, disappointment and sorrow.

So what do we do? Another friend of mine is fond of saying, “Give up all hope of a better past,” and perhaps we do well to start there. If we let yesterday’s failures distract us from today’s assignments, we will erect yet another milestone of regret at sundown. So let’s accept forgiveness for what lies behind us, learn what we can from experience, and fix our focus the here and now. We do well then to anticipate God’s call, which is to say we should not be caught flat-footed or surprised by the daily urging of the Holy Spirit. Obedient action is the overflow of identity; it’s the “what we do” that arises out of “who we are.” Paul writes, “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”1 There will be calls to action, and these are not random; rather they are planned by the God we confess, and He has fashioned us for them.

Then in the splendor of who God has made us to be, and in His high calling, we surrender ourselves to Him. Wrote Paul to the church in Rome, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”2 To say no in the moment and regret it the rest of our years, this is truly a tragedy. We don’t need to repeat it. How much better to say yes to God, knowing He will work through our obedience and we will rejoice in His pleasure both now and forever. The choice is clear. Which do you desire today?

Father, you are so good! You turn our mistakes into learning, and You send us into a new day of tasks that await us. Fill us completely, that we would live today as living sacrifices, watchful and eager to join You as you direct us. You will accomplish Your purposes through us, Your people. What an honor. Thank You. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 Ephesians 2:10
2 Romans 12:1

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Holding Hands

“Hold my hand, we’re crossing the street,” we say, and a little palm reaches up to be engulfed in our fists grown larger over time. Is there a better feeling in life than a child’s hand clasping ours? Their hope, their security, their trust—these priceless treasures of the heart given over to us through vertically outstretched arms and tightly squeezing fingers. Mindful of the innocent confidence now resting in us, we firm our own grip and proceed carefully, for safety is not found in the hand of the child who trusts us, but in the strength of our own. Of course, children naturally outgrow this phase—“I can do it myself; I don’t need you to help me”—and in small matters like parking lots and city streets we want this for them.

Yet life itself, with all of its challenges, is too big for us. We were created to trust and rely on our adoring Creator, and we never outgrow our need for His outstretched hand. David understood this, celebrating through lyrics of song, “The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.”1 Trusting in the love of God, the king clasped the grip that extended first to his: “Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your right hand upholds me.”2 And no matter where we go in life, or no matter where life finds us, we can never venture beyond God’s reach: “If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”3

Isn’t it amazing that God is not only willing to take our hand, but eagerly desiring to do so? Our need for Him is far greater than we realize, and His grace greater still. We never outgrow our need for Him, for safety is not found in the hand of the child who trusts God, but in the strength of His own. Reach up today; He is with you, and you can trust Him.

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”4—Jesus the Son, to God the Father.

1 Psalm 37:23-24
2 Psalm 63:7-8
3 Psalm 139:9-10
4 Luke 23:46