Can you think back on a time in your life when something happened that just
TOTALLY transformed your life? It could have been a good or bad
circumstance, but either way, it had such an impact that you know your life
will never be the same??
I can look back on lots of different key things that God has allowed in my
life that dramatically changed me, but probably none more than what God took me
through about 5 years ago.
All the details don't really matter, but the heart of the matter is that God
allowed me, for the first time ever, to really come to grips with who I am
in CHRIST. I was so emotionally and spiritually stripped down for this
season in my life, that much of what happened is still a blur to me.
Maybe sometime I'll write a book about it...nah!! ; )
The interesting thing that happened to me was that the more I came to a
biblical understanding of who it was that God made me to be, all my
relationships started changing. I realized that my lack of understanding
of who I was in Christ was having a negative and very unhealthy impact on my
ability to have godly, Jesus honoring, relationships.
Even in this moment
as I write this down, my hands are shaking because the feelings of way back
then are still so vibrant in my heart.
As you read this blog, you will see that much of what I have to say comes
from a DEEP passion for embracing who I am in Christ. I'm
overwhelmed about what to even write because I have so much on my
heart that just wants to come spilling out.
For starters, I will just let you have insight into my walk with God this
morning.
My mentor has me reading a book called "Leading and Loving It"
(Wilhite/Wilson). It's a book written to pastor's wives and women in
leadership. It's a good book, but more than anything it has just been
good for me to take the concepts and use them as building blocks to process
what is going in my context right now.
There is a chapter about friendship and one of the main topics was about the
difference between authenticity and transparency. I especially loved this
because this is totally one of my soap box issues.
As I was walking this morning, I felt God was asking me, "Tirzah, what
is authentic to YOU?" "Nice question, God!" I walked
for a bit more and then had to stop by the lake and write my thoughts down on
my phone. Here is what came to me:
"To be authentic is to know who I am in Christ, embrace
who it is God made me to be, and to live
that out with unwavering confidence...no matter what comes my
way."
I'm sure there are way better definitions out there, but I was so excited
that God gave me that clarity this morning.
Authenticity has become such a buzz word in Christian circles. To some
of us it may sound more like a four letter word than a godly
character quality. Whatever category you find yourself in, I think
somewhere in all of us, we so badly want authentic relationships in our
life. We want it, but we don't even know what it's supposed to look like
because all of us crazy hypocritical Christians have messed it up somewhere
along the line.
Here are a few things that authenticity is NOT:
1) It is not an excuse to just say whatever is on your mind
(I say this from experience...and not always from the receiving end! Yes, I'm a dork sometimes.)
2) It is not an excuse to share a prayer request that in reality is just gossip
3) It is not laying your spouse’s garbage out for the world to hear
4) It is not an excuse for spiritual arrogance
and the biggest one in my mind...
5) It is not the same as transparency (more on that later...don't judge me till after you read part 2)
My belief is that until you have that firm understanding of who you are in
Christ, authenticity just becomes an act.
Okay, I
think that’s enough to process for now!
Digging
Deeper,
Tirzah
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