BECOMING WHO GOD WANTS ME TO BE

“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.”  (Psalm 139:14 NKJV)

God does not call me to fit a certain mold, nor does He want to press out a bunch of cookie-cutter Christians, each exactly alike. No, when God created me, He made me a unique individual with particular gifts and abilities. This is my true self, and as I become this person that God intended, I find that I am happier and more free. I am also more united with the Holy Spirit, able to take the place God calls me to in His kingdom.  

-- Elizabeth Prentiss in “Stepping Heavenward”

#5690

A UNIQUE DEATH FOR A UNIQUE MAN

“Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with Him to be executed.”  (Luke 23:32 NIV)

Though we find it hard and even repulsive to imagine, Jesus was only one of many people tortured to death by crucifixion. He had two companions at the brow of Calvary. But His experience on the cross included several added sobering features. A unique death for a unique man:

First, it was shameful. He was stripped of His clothing and pinned naked between heaven and earth. There’s no mention of the soldiers casting lots for the clothing of the other victims. He was ridiculed by the crowds and taunted by one of the criminals. Jesus suffered the humiliation of the sign posted over His head that attempted to mock His claim to be king.

Second, He was absolutely innocent -- and He could prove it! He was there by choice. The nails didn’t keep Him on the cross. His decision to remain there was stronger than His desire to avoid the pain. Think for a moment how tempting it must have been to have a self-pity party.

Third, Jesus bore the sins of the world -- including yours and mine -- on the cross.

Fourth, He sensed the forsaking action of God as His Father turned away from Him, covered as He was in our sins. 

-- Neil Wilson

#5574

UNIQUELY YOU

"He gave... to each one as much as he could handle."  (Matthew 25:15 NCV)

Da Vinci painted one Mona Lisa. Beethoven composed one Fifth Symphony. And God made one version of you. He custom designed you for a one-of-a-kind assignment. Mine like a gold digger the unique-to-you nuggets from your life. When God gives an assignment, He also gives the skill. Study your skills, then, to reveal your assignment. Look at you. Your uncanny ease with numbers. Your quenchless curiosity about chemistry. Others stare at blueprints and yawn; you read them and drool. "I was made to do this," you say.

Our Maker gives assignments to people, to each according to each one's unique ability. As He calls, He equips. Look back over your life. What have you consistently done well? What have you loved to do? Stand at the intersection of your affections and successes and find your uniqueness. 

-- Max Lucado in “Cure for the Common Life”

#5265

GOD IS A HAND-CRAFTER

God always knows just what each person needs.

He had Abraham take a walk, Elijah take a nap, Joshua take a lap, and Adam take the rap.

He gave Moses a forty-year time out, He gave David a harp and a dance, and He gave Paul a pen and a scroll.

He wrestled with Jacob, argued with Job, whispered to Elijah, warned Cain, and comforted Hagar.

He gave Aaron an altar, Miriam a song, Gideon a fleece, Peter a name, and Elisha a mantle.

Jesus was stern with the rich young ruler, tender with the woman caught in adultery, patient with the disciples, blistering with the scribes, gentle with the children, and gracious with the thief on the cross.

God never grows two people the same way.  God is a hand-crafter, not a mass-producer.

– John Ortberg in “The Me I Want To Be” 

#5158

GOD’S GREATEST MIRACLE

“For You created my inmost being;
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”  (Psalm 139:13-14 NIV)

Out of all the people who have ever lived since the dawn of creation, over all the centuries and in all the countries of the world, there has never been another person like you.  No one has ever had your mind, heart, eyes, hands, hair, or mouth.  No one has ever walked, talked, moved or thought like you. You are rare. And like all things rare, you are valuable.  In fact, you are God's greatest miracle -- His supreme creation. Never again till the end of time will there ever be anyone else exactly like you.

So you are important to God. He made you in His image.  And He made you to succeed.  He made you to enjoy the best heaven can afford. 

-- Dan Stewart in “Miracle Success”


#4496

CREATED BY AN ETERNAL GOD

In biblical terms, the sanctity of human life is rooted and grounded in creation. Humankind is not viewed as a cosmic accident but as the product of a carefully executed creation by an eternal God. “For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;…” (Psalm 113:13,14a NIV) Human dignity is derived from God. A human being is a finite, dependent, contingent creature, assigned a high value by our Creator.

The creation account in Genesis provides the framework for human dignity: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make humankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’ So God created humankind in His image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:26–27 NRSV).

Creation in the image of God is what sets humans apart from all other creatures. The stamp of the image and likeness of God connects God and humankind uniquely.

-- adapted from R.C. Sproul, the Ligonier.org blog

#4257

STITCH BY STITCH AND LOOP BY LOOP

“For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.”  (Psalm 139:13 NIV)

Think about how God knit you together in your mother's womb. Our Father uses such a tender illustration of how He lovingly, and carefully created our being. He could have blasted us together, or snapped His fingers and we would have appeared, but He chose a more delicate process in which He could be intimately involved as He formed us in our mother’s womb... knit one, pearl two, knit one, pearl two.

Stitch by stitch, loop by loop, each one of our parts was delicately and carefully crafted by Almighty God. Your life is not the product of an impersonal evolution, but the result of a loving Father, who planned your creation before the foundations of the world, and took the time to knit you together in your mother's womb. You are a masterpiece, and your very existence brings much joy to your Father's heart.

-- Barry Adams in “Father's Love Letter”


#4251

ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL

Many approaches to spiritual growth assume that the same methods will produce the same growth in different people -- but they don’t.  Because you have been created by God as a unique person, His plan to grow you will not look the same as His plan to grow anyone else.  What would grow an orchid would drown a cactus.  What would feed a mouse would starve an elephant.  All of those entities need light, food, air, and water -- but in different amounts and conditions.  The key is not treating every creature alike; it is finding the unique conditions that help each creature grow.

Imagine a doctor’s office where every patient is told, “Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.”  If I have a headache, that is great advice, but if my appendix has just burst, I will be dead before morning.  Imagine a store that sells only one kind of shirt -- one color, style, fabric, and size -- and makes the same deal on pants.  There are no “one-size-fits-all” stores, because God made people in different sizes.  Imagine a parent who thinks, ‘No matter how many kids I have, I will treat them each exactly the same way.  Each kid will be a blank slate for me to write on, pliable clay for me to mold.  They will all be motivated by the same rewards, impacted by punishment the same way, and attracted by the same activities.’

What obliterates these ideas? Reality, such as actually having children and becoming quickly aware that every human being is different.  If we really want to help someone grow, we will have to help them in a way that fits their wiring.

-- John Ortberg in “The Me I Want To Be”

#4163

A TESTAMENT TO THE CREATOR

“You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”  (Psalm 139:13-14)

Those are some of the most poetic and prophetic words in the Bible. They may be some of the oldest, too. While most scholars attribute Psalm 139 to David, one rabbinic tradition says it goes all the way back to Adam. If that is true, these are some of the oldest and truest words in the history of humankind.

Every moment of every day, we experience the miraculous on both a microscopic and macroscopic scale. Miracles are happening all around us all the time. But the greatest miracle is the one you see in the mirror. There never has been and never will be anyone like you. Of course, that isn’t a testament to you. It’s a testament to the God who created you.

-- Mark Batterson in The Grave Robber

#3928

WHO DO YOU SAY JESUS IS?

"Jesus asks the disciples, 'Who do you say I am?'" (Matthew 16:15)

Jesus Christ is end of all, and the centre to which all tends.  Whoever knows Him knows the reason of everything.

-- Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

#3635

CHRIST'S UNIQUE CLAIMS

Some of the most obvious considerations, when thinking about the supremacy of Christ, are the claims He made about Himself.  Other teachers said they were telling the truth.  Christ said, "I ... am the truth" (John 14:6).  Other teachers asked people to follow their teachings.  Christ asked people to follow Him.  More than twenty times in the Gospels Jesus spoke about the need to follow Him.  The other great leaders taught people to worship God… Jesus accepted the worship of Thomas (John 20:28).  Jesus made statements that clearly implied that He was God, and some of His hearers were so scandalized by these remarks that twice they wanted to stone Him for blasphemy (John 8:54-59; 10:30, 31).

Seven "I am" statements appear in John's Gospel, showing that Christ claimed to be the source of eternal life.  He said, "I am the bread of life" (6:35); "I am the light of the world" (8:12); "I am the gate" (10:7, 9); "I am the good shepherd" (10:11); "I am the resurrection and the life" (11:25); "I am the way and the truth and the life" (14:6); "I am the true vine" (15:1).  Leon Morris reminds us that "in each case the Greek form of 'I am' is emphatic."  Each saying includes the personal pronoun "I."  "There is no need to include the personal pronoun unless emphasis is required."  Morris concludes that to Jewish ears, the words I am "aroused associations of the divine."  These and other statements of Christ make us agree with J. T. Seamands' statement that the uniqueness of Christ "is not something we concede to Christ, but something He confronts us with."

-- Ajith Fernando in The Christian's Attitude Toward World Religions


#3614

GOD'S HANDIWORK

Only God knows your full potential, and He is guiding you toward that best version of yourself all the time.  He has many tools and is never in a hurry.  That can be frustrating for us, but even in our frustration, God is at work to produce patience in us.  He never gets discouraged by how long it takes, and He delights every time you grow.  Only God can see the “best version of you,” and He is more concerned with you reaching your full potential than you are.

"For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:10)

You are not your handiwork; your life is not your project.  Your life is God’s project.  God thought you up, and He knows what you were intended to be.  He has many good works for you to do, but they are not the kind of “to do” lists we give spouses or employees.  They are sign-posts to your true self.

Your “spiritual life” is not limited to certain devotional activities that you engage in.  It is receiving power from the Spirit of God to become the person God had in mind when He created you -- His handiwork.

-- John Ortberg in The Me I Want to Be


#3233

YOUR GOD-DESIGNED UNIQUENESS

“The righteous will flourish like a palm tree… they all flourish in the courts of our God.” (Psalm 92:12-13)

As God helps you grow, you will change, but you will always be you.  An acorn can grow into an oak tree, but it cannot become a rose bush.  It can be a healthy oak or can be a stunted oak -- but it won’t be a shrub.  You will always be you -- a growing, healthy you or a languishing you -- but God did not create you to be anybody else.  He pre-wired your temperament.  He determined your natural gifts and talents.  He made you to feel certain passions and desires.  He planned your body and mind.  Your uniqueness is God-designed. 

-- John Ortberg in The Me I Want to Be


#3078

TWO ALTERNATIVES

I invite you to consider two alternatives and their consequences. One of them, to paraphrase atheist Bertrand Russell, is "You are the product of causes that have no purpose or meaning. Your origin, your growth, your hopes, fears, loves, beliefs are the outcome of accidental collections of atoms. No fire, heroism, or intensity of thought or feeling can preserve your life from beyond the grave. All the devotion, all the inspiration, all the labor of all the ages are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system. The whole temple of human achievement must inevitably be buried in the debris of a universe in ruins. That's what we're all headed for."

Or you can choose this: "You are the uniquely designed creation of a thoroughly good and unspeakably creative God. You are made in His image, with a capacity to reason, choose, and love that sets you above all other life forms. You will not only survive death, but you yourself were made to bear an eternal weight of glory you cannot now even fathom and you will one day know."

 -- John Ortberg in Faith & Doubt

#2996

YOUR UNIQUE TALENTS

God deals with each one of us as individuals, where we are. He has given us the talents we have. God is not a dilettante game-player, who gives us one set of talents and then somehow makes us justify our spiritual lives by calling us to give them up. Each person is an individual. Either the whole [person] is redeemed by Christ or none of [that person]!

-- Franky Schaeffer in Addicted to Mediocrity


#2523

OUR UNIQUE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

God wants to have a relationship with you that is unlike His relationship with any other being in all creation. In the book of Revelation, John writes that one day we will each receive form God a name that remains a secret between Him and us throughout eternity. C. L. Lewis writes, "What shall we take this secrecy to mean? Surely, that each of the redeemed shall forever know and praise some one aspect of the Divine beauty better than any other creature can. Why else were individuals created, but that God, loving all infinitely, should love each differently?…If all experienced God in the same way and returned Him an identical worship, the song of the Church triumphant would have no symphony, it would be like an orchestra in which all the instruments played the same note."

My grandmother said it better, I think. When anyone asked her which of her six children she loved the most, she said love for your children doesn't work that way. She said it's as if when each child is born, another little room gets added to your heart. And no one else occupies that room. It doesn't have to be bigger or better than any other room. It's just theirs.

"In my Father's house are many rooms," Jesus said. One of them was added on when you became His child. That one is yours, and no one else can ever occupy it. It is secret to you and Him. It's your own private Sistine Chapel. It is furnished by every moment of intimacy and wonder and togetherness shared by you and your Father.

In the whole divine journey, no one else can walk your pathway. In the whole cosmic choir, no one else can sing your song.

-- John Ortberg in God Is Closer Than You Think


#2515

YOUR IMPORTANCE

If only you could sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.

-- Fred Rogers, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood


#2383

UNIQUE AND SPECIAL

"You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you." (Isaiah 43:4)

As I sat watching the handicapped preschoolers gather pumpkins, I felt saddened that my own three-year-old was among them. Why had I bothered to bring him? Mentally and physically handicapped, he could really only observe the fun around him. My hope for a meaningful life for Thomas was at an all-time low.

I talked about my feelings with another mother who was also watching. She opened my eyes to something. "Like you," she said, "I almost didn't bring Kristen today. She is unaware of her surroundings and couldn't possibly enjoy the activities. But then," she continued, "I realized while she may not get anything out of this experience, perhaps someone will see Kristen and be touched by her."

In her words, I saw a ray of hope, a glimpse of meaning in Thomas' life. Perhaps by seeing him participate in his limited way, others would see Thomas not as "handicapped" but as a valuable member of God's family, unique and special in God's sight, loved by those around him, with much to offer regardless of his limitations.

I smiled as I scooped Thomas up, and we hurried into the field in search of pumpkins.

-- Sharon P. Stanley in The Upper Room, November 30, 1990


#2271