change – rhythms of grace

Our lives should never be stagnant when we follow Jesus. We must always remain in a state of growth and development as He refines us to become more and more like Him. However, growth can be painful, sometimes even excruciating.

Growth means letting go of old habits and developing new ones. It requires constant openness to God and what He’d like to do in our lives and in our hearts. We must look squarely at our own destructive ways and intentionally replace them with life-giving ways, at the Father’s prodding.

He lets us see ourselves as we are so we will be motivated to change. He allows us to see the the extent of our brokenness and helplessness without Him. We have to get to this point in our faith in order to move into the greater things He has for us. He can’t use a self-deluded person to do His work; He can only use those who know their own weakness and humbly submit to Him for strength and guidance. The ones who know their own capacity for sin and realize their need for a Savior. Then He can do the real work in us as we put off our old selves and put on the new (Ephesians 4:22-24). If we’re not open to His correction and tough love, we will not reach the heights He wants to take us to, but remain stuck in our own stubbornness and self-destructive ways.

This summer has been an incredibly growing time for me. And it has not always felt like growth- most times it has felt like retroactive steps; I’m overcome by familiar darknesses that I have faced in the past, and I wonder why they are coming up again. Why I haven’t moved past these things. I start to wonder if I’m just unbearably weak and incapable, a victim of my own mind and fears. I wonder if it will always be this way, if I will always be defeated by these things. That’s the way the enemy would like me to think. He tries to get us stuck in an endless loop of self-pity and fear- a victim mentality. If we remain self-absorbed and wallow in our own helplessness, we will forget to turn to the One who can actually help us.

But by turning to Him and facing these battles again (internal battles of fear, anxiety, purpose, identity, worth…etc.) I am strengthened. He has to bring me back to these places to remind me of my human nature and my absolute need to depend on Him. To remind me that without His love I cannot conquer, that without His thoughts I am hopeless. To remind me how empty I am without Him. These same issues (in different forms and brought about by different circumstances) come up again and again because I keep going back to the old ways of self-sufficiency and illusory control, returning to the place of believing that my life is my own. And that indeed is a fruitless and stagnant place to be.

Even when our circumstances are frustrating and painful, and perhaps especially during these times, we must cling to Him. The sweetest times of growth can be in the biggest times of spiritual and emotional draught. These are the times when we remember that we have a Hope so much greater than what we can see; what is evident in the world around us. And we can remember that the trials we are facing are going to produce something incredible in us.

So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.

~1 Peter 1:6

With the new year just ahead of us, the potential for new beginnings are fresh on all of our minds and hearts. We love the idea of possibility– the notion that anything can happen. It is a liberating feeling, and yet, at the same time, it is just that- a feeling.

As someone who constantly looks to new things, new opportunities, to fulfill me in ways that only God can, the new year brings me a different sort of hope. It brings me a hope for the possibility of healing, the possibility of reconciliation and forgiveness. The possibility of growing closer to God than I ever have before, and trusting Him to direct my life in radical ways.

The new year, for me, is about a new beginning with God. It is about letting go of my old self and embracing the new creation that I am in Him. Sure, He started the process long ago, but I know in this new year He will continue it in a new way.

He is always showing up in new ways:

See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.

~Isaiah 43:19

We become stagnant in our faith when we forget that what He offers us is never the same, that it is so much more exciting than we ever dared dream. We become stagnant when we aren’t ready to say yes to Him in bigger ways- not when we become bored with our faith. Stagnation is a failure to risk more for His sake. If we are not swimming upstream with Him, we will only make backwards progress.

When we become comfortable in our lives and don’t see a need to change, there is a problem. Walking with Jesus is a dynamic, ever-changing experience and the further we go with Him, the more we realize how much farther we have to go. We see the possibility of all we can become in Him, and that fills us with joy and determination to press on:

I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.

~Philippians 3:14-16 The Message

He is our inspiration- our Muse for all of our future endeavors. We know that with Him, anything IS possible, but only with Him. Not on our own terms.

I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

~Philippians 4:13

This new year does hold more possibility for me than I have ever known. But I know that if I cling to that possibility instead of to Christ, the road will lead nowhere. However, if I allow Him to be a part of my hopes and dreams and invite Him into all that comes next, there is no way I will fail.

Put your hope in Christ, for with Him all things are possible.