I gotta say...I hate the title. I almost didn't want to read it because of that title. I'm sick of our worlds preoccupation with perfection. Especially the church. However....I think she means it in the way that God created you very purposefully, to reflect a piece of his own DNA in the world. In that sense...there is a wholeness to grow into, to display that vision he had when he created you.
This isn't like our parents expectations. He isn't looking at your "potential." More like, he knows how he wired you, and what will bring you joy, satisfaction, and significance, he wants to help you walk away from lesser things to fuller. It has nothing to do with love and approval. NOTHING.
THIS IS ALL FOR YOU.
That said...in the prologue...I thought an interesting question was How can you reflect his glory if you cannot see it in you?
Do we need to see it? After taking multiple personality tests....gifts tests....strengths tests....over the years, I'm not sure how much help or change they brought. Maybe this is different. I'm open to changing my mind.
I'm just me. That was a revelation 3 years ago, in the midst of people who wanted me to be someone else. God made what he liked. And he was asking me to grow up, not change who I was. But I utterly lost myself, amidst bad theology, people with an agenda, my own insecurities and an image of Jesus through others filters.
If you had babies....remember how their little personalities began to emerge? We want them to be who they are, but sometimes we might put pressure on them to move in directions they aren't suitable for. Then when they don't quite fit in the box, we might pressure them to be different so they will fit.
From the book:
"Our Perfect You operates -that is, it is unlocked- in environments of love. Love changes the physical nature around all 75-100 trillion cells of our bodies and gives us the courage to face and deal with blocks and locks of our Perfect You. When we learn to focus on our God, who is love, and what he says about us, we learn how to embrace our unique identity and discover who we truly are in him."
I can agree that love changes everything. Living loved in your Father, will change your life.
In reference to her question, "how can you reflect His glory if you can't see it in you?" I don't think (my opinion, of course) we need to see it. I think everything in our nature that is Him should be an automatic thing. I think the real key is just figuring out how to be... we spend so much time DOING so as to get things "right" that we arent just being who we already are. Our focus needn't be seeing Him in us (although He is in us and we should acknowledge that) but just resting in the fact that we're ok. We're good enough. We don't have to measure up. If we spend time and effort trying to see His glory in ourselves I'm not sure we would ever see it. We are too prone to seeing our flaws... When we spend time looking at ourselves it rarely brings good results (that's been my experience, anyway). I might have taken this way off target, so if I did I apologize. :) I am finding joy (at last) in the fact that He approves of me just as I am. He knows how He wired me, and I no longer am living according to another man's vision but searching for my own. And He has zero expectations or requirements of me other than to love! Whew! So wonderful...
ReplyDeleteI totally agree Deena. After all the "tests" I have taken to pigeon hole me, and make me "productive" spiritually, I think being me, is enough. I think it's our preoccupation with how we look that got us into trouble in the first place.John said He must increase, and I decrease...doesn't feel like a fit with seeing His glory in myself. I just need to understand his love.
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