Choosing to Believe

“We see the world as WE are, not as it IS.”

I used to read scripture as a list of shoulds and wishes for what God desired the world to be. I would have told you that I believed in absolute truth, and that the Bible contains it. In practice? I believed it was an ideal to reach for, not absolute truth.

Oh, I believed that some things were absolute truth, like that God created the world and Jesus died on the cross. But when Paul said, “for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God”...not so much.

Or when Jesus said, “if you continue as my disciples then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” not then either. And the scriptures that tell me how much God loves me? Fagetaboutit!

I would pray, begging for God to make me die (to my flesh in the spiritual sense of Col 3) and for him to hide my life in Christ. I longed to know truth, even though I was continuing as His disciple. I wanted him to love me, but I believed I was too flawed.

I didn’t believe scripture. I wasn’t living in reality as defined by the Creator of it.

The thing is, truth doesn’t change based on whether I believe it, or how I feel about it. God’s character does not change based on what I believe about Him. He is good, whether I believe He is or not.

The Bible is the revelation of truth. Absolute truth. And not just the creation story and Jesus birth, life, death and resurrection. God’s revelation of who we are, and how He feels about us is also absolute truth. It isn’t subject to our emotions and beliefs.

When Paul says, “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” he didn’t mean ‘there SHOULD be no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.’ He’s not revealing how it COULD be. He is revealing what is real. Reality. Absolute truth.

When Paul says, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do and it gave him great pleasure.” He is telling us what is real. Reality. Absolute truth.

If I do not believe this, if I do not live this. I do not really believe that God’s word is absolute truth.

Thief

Sure, there are moments when I compare and the comparison steals my joy because I don't have what they have.

They're skinnier.
A better cook.
A more loving mom.

All of the ways that someone else might be "better" than me. I am reduced to "less than".

but in all of this comparing, there HAVE to be moments when I do measure up. When the verdict isn't less than, but more than. Because what motivation would I have to play a game that I always lose?

There are people that I have labeled as "weird". People whose opinion I don't ask for because I don't take them seriously. People who I avoid sitting with at lunch. Or people that I feel the need to fix.

 I am not advocating for trophies for everyone. I am advocating for seeing people through the eyes of Jesus instead of a Soccer coach or a college admissions board. Or a mean girl.

Comparison is wrong in both contexts.

So, in all of this "finding my identity in Christ", I am committing to finding yours there too.

 
Not because of what you believe, or how alike we are or any other thing about you.

 
God's promise that I am fearfully and wonderfully made and his workmanship, are promises to you too. And if I am committed to living in His promises for me, I have to acknowledge and live in His promises for you too.

 
 The former is not truly possible without the latter.