Are You Who You Want to Be?
The Confession
As I’ve grown older, I have come to recognize patterns in my life that I fight against. You could call these patterns, temptation, and when temptation is entertained, the resulting thought or action becomes sin. Even though I know sin represents everything I don’t want to be, I still struggle to resist it. This isn’t easy for me to admit, given that I have perfectionistic tendencies, and even that, taken to an extreme, can become sin. See the problem?
The more I read and study, the more I believe this isn’t just a “me” problem, but rather an inherent byproduct of the state of brokenness we live in. This has been described as living between the already and not yet. There is the “already” of Christ’s first coming as the sacrificial Lamb who laid down his life for those who would receive the gift of his grace by faith. The already means that we are no longer spiritually bound to sin and death – it is no longer our eternal future, and it has no legal right or claim over us. Furthermore, when we accept Christ as our Savior, the Holy Spirit enters our lives to continually point us to Christ as our model of living, and the Spirit gives us strength to choose right instead of wrong.
The counter perspective is the “not yet”. This means that Christ has not yet returned in glory through his second Advent to judge this world and establish his earthly kingdom. This event will take the innate brokenness of this world that our sin has created and restore it completely. Revelation 21:4 says, “[God] will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He will make everything new, including all believers, who will receive incorruptible, glorified bodies.
While I long for the day when the “not yet” will finally become the “already”, we still live in the tension of the in-between. I read about the internal battle with sin that other Christ followers describe, and it aligns with the war I experience inside my own heart and mind. The words of St. Augustine’s Confessions describe his struggles with sin both before and after his conversion to Christianity. He may have shown fewer outward signs of sin after bowing to Christ, but there were still lingering earthly habits and impulses that continued to pull at his will. This echoes the tension that the Apostle Paul describes in Romans 7, when he says, “I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing.” Whether Paul is describing his own struggle or the hypothetical struggle of another, I relate to his words of frustration and the desire to be free from the conflict.
The Hope
If we ended the story here, you may draw the conclusion that sin has an ongoing vise grip on our lives, whether or not we have experienced new life in Christ. But that would be negating the power of the Holy Spirit that we referred to earlier, and the Holy Spirit has direct involvement in a process called sanctification, defined by being set apart by God for holiness and being made more like Christ. Sanctification is both an event that begins at salvation, as well as a lifelong journey that culminates in glorification, which will ultimately take place at Christ’s second coming. We see this process echoed in 1 Thessalonians 5:23: “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Our hope is an ever-deeper relationship with our Lord, Jesus. However, we live in a world that is broken and sin-filled; therefore, effort and intention must be exerted to maintain a growing, meaningful relationship with God. There is a real and active spiritual world that exists just beyond the veil of our human senses, and there are forces working against us to keep us from experiencing the fullness of God in our lives. The Apostle Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” He goes on to instruct us to put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, we will be able to stand our ground. The armor of God also protects us from the distractions of this world that would keep us from an abundant relationship with our Creator.
The Application
If you want to be serious about overcoming sin in your life, consider implementing these helpful action steps to assist you in your daily journey toward Christ:
1. Walk in the Spirit
Galatians 5:16-17 explains this as allowing the Holy Spirit to guide your daily thoughts and actions. The passage reads, “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.” If we want to overcome sin, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to guide our daily thoughts and actions.
2. Read the Word of God…daily
There is no substitution for the inspired words of the Bible. It is God’s truth revealed to us, and it’s nothing short of supernatural that we have God’s spoken and conveyed words written down and recorded in a physical book that we can pick up anytime and read. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that, “The word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing the soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” One step beyond reading Scripture is to memorize it. Psalm 119:11 says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” When we are tempted to sin, the truth of God’s word will help us overcome that temptation as Scripture flows from our hearts and is spoken from our lips.
3. Pray without ceasing
Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, we now have unhindered access to the throne room of God. Hebrews 4:16 instructs us in this, saying, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” God wants to provide for our needs, and we can approach God directly through the practice of prayer. Many of us may feel intimidated to pray, thinking that we need to impress God or others with our words. Nothing could be further from the truth; God simply wants you to share your heart with him, and to share it often, no matter what you’re going through. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Prayer is crucial to overcoming sin. Jesus reminds his disciples of this in the Garden of Gethsemane when he warns them to, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41 NIV)
4. Maintain accountability
When sin is brought into the open, it loses its power. That is why it’s vitally important to have accountability with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Hebrews 10:24 tells us, “Spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.” We need the strength of the body of Christ to endure temptation and overcome evil. If you don’t have accountability in your life, ask God to reveal one or two people, of your own gender, that you can be completely transparent with and who will consistently point you toward Christ. This discipline will greatly enhance the other disciplines of Spirit-led prayer and Bible reading that are already in place.
The Legacy
I grew up listening to Christian rock music. Some may consider that an oxymoron, but I was a part of that scene myself, and I played in various Christian rock bands and traveled around spreading the love of God to anyone who would listen. One of my favorite bands was, and still is, Switchfoot. Our own Tyler Thomas recently reviewed their latest album, Forever Now, and you should check out the album here as well as his thoughts in a recent blog post. Switchfoot has been making albums since 1997, and in 2003 they released their breakthrough album The Beautiful Letdown, which reached a much wider audience than any of their previous albums to that date.
One of my favorite songs on the album is “This Is Your Life”. In the chorus, lead singer, Jon Foreman, belts out the question, “This is your life, are you who you want to be?” The song is a clarion call to wake up from the slumber of apathy that surrounds many of our days and realize that no matter what regrets we have from the past, or what fears we have of the future, the present, today, is all we have. It’s a gift we’ve been given, so don’t waste it being anything you don’t want to be.
I’m reminded of this often. I ask myself the question, “Am I who I want to be?” in the way that I treat my family, the way that I’m raising my young boys, the way that I interact with strangers in public, the way that I care for people at my church. The more specific question I often ask is, “Am I who God wants me to be?” That question is often followed by, “Am I like Jesus?”
Whenever I fall short of who I want to be, God is always there to pick me up, dust me off, look me in the eyes with a reassuring smile of understanding, and help me to keep moving toward him. No matter what temptations we face in this life, he has given us the opportunity to overcome, to leave a legacy of his love in this world. This is your life – are you who you want to be?
