labeled by society or renamed by God?
dear friend,
Hi! How are you? I pray this letter finds you well, enjoying the rest and company of God and family that this quarantine period has given us all as a society!
Today, as I was screaming prayers to God (highly recommend trying to do it one day — seriously, changed my prayer life SO MUCH), He gave me a revelation that, otherwise, I never would have understood if I wasn’t in direct contact with him (new post on how prayer immensely changes things coming soon)!
During this time, God revealed to me that His standards are completely and entirely different than society’s standards. And don’t miss me when I say this: when I use the term “society,” I’m not just talking about the mainstream news, or the things celebrities say that end up “impacting” so much of how things are done in our world, or leftist, liberal sources and the labels that they give us (such as racist, homophobic, bigoted, etc.). No, when I say “society” I mean BOTH us as a LOST and FOUND people, because, I’m gonna be honest guys, a lot of my Christian worldview and what I thought I was SUPPOSED to be doing as a Christian was based off of the opinions or actions of the older generations of Christians that surrounded me.
And you know what? As an INFJ (a chameleon of sorts), I SO DESPERATELY let my identity depend on what the people around me were doing. I did this so often, that, sadly, even the more toxic side of Christianity affected and impacted me, making me a judgmental hypocrite who lived to point out other’s flaws before recognizing my own.
And no, I’m not saying that (in and of itself) judging another Christian brother or sister is BAD (check out this podcast episode by Allie Stuckey to see what I mean when I say this)! However, what I’m trying to say is that, so often (at least, in my own experience) we can try to strive so hard to be what OTHERS want us to be, living up to OTHERS expectations of what “being a Christian” looks like, when, in reality, each of us has our OWN identities that we need to establish in Christ! And no, to clarify, I’m not saying it’s bad to do what other Christians are doing, especially if they are positive things that are NOT directly going against the will of God! But there is a difference between doing something God deems as good and holy to Him and His glory, and doing something just to make yourself look and feel like you’re a “good Christian.”
And you know what? Let me make this clear, ahem:
Apart from Jesus Christ, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A “GOOD CHRISTIAN!”
Say it with me:
APART FROM CHRIST, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A “GOOD CHRISTIAN!”
As I’ve been reading through the Psalms in my current chronological Bible reading plan, basically almost this exact phrase has come up several times by David — and, upon further research, these Psalms were even REPEATED by the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans (therefore stating how important of a concept this is to acknowledge and grasp)!
“The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is none who does good.
The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.”
“...as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
Do you see what I mean? Here, let me reiterate what I’m saying with a few examples.
After I had been baptized and a few years into when I was basically a newer Christian, I did what the older people at my church did in order to gain approval from them and in order to feel like I was doing my part as a “good Christian girl.” At the time, I did this without realizing that God wasn’t a checklist, and that all He wanted was some of my time and energy devoted to Him. As a perfectionist, doing this didn’t serve me well. Because as I did this, high and mighty as a felt, I inwardly judged others who didn’t fit into my box or weren’t in the exact same part of the journey that I was in. While my sister woke up and immediately rushed to Instagram first thing in the morning, I felt a pang in my heart, offended that she didn’t revere God as holy enough for her first moments of the day. I, on the other hand, in order to get these superficial “good Christian girl” points from elders in my church, making myself look like something I definitely WAS NOT, woke up each morning with a prayer… only to fall back asleep in less than ten minutes, because, honestly, waking up early is so not something I enjoy doing on a regular basis. It wasn’t me, it wasn’t who I was, and yet I did it because I felt this imminent need and desire to please those around me — without even considering that I was quite far from pleasing God.
I did the same thing when it came to the topic of modesty. Even though I legitimately felt a deep conviction stir my heart when I discovered that it was OKAY and even GOOD to not show off my body, I definitely remember judging both of my sisters and many girls from my church when they didn’t follow suit.
News flash, past Natalie: GOD WORKS ACCORDING TO HIS TIMING, NOT YOURS, especially in the lives of those around you THAT ARE NOT YOU!
I just feel like this is SO necessary to share, because as I moved to Pennsylvania, I lost this sort-of “connection” or “bond” with these older people from my church. No longer could I fit into the “good Christian girl” box, because I didn’t have anyone around me that I trusted to mold into their actions of worship.
Oh, and what a RELIEF this was to discover!
Because, I’ll be honest: at first, it sucked. I look back and see how legitimately depressed and anxious and awful I felt because I didn’t think I was doing enough for God. I wasn’t being rewarded or praised for doing “good Christian girl” things, so I kind of, for a little bit, grew farther away from God. He felt too unattainable, too holy for me to even try to consider talking to. And it seriously was awful. I didn’t feel like His child. I didn’t think I belonged. I hated asking for forgiveness because I didn’t feel like the “good” I was doing was outweighing all the ”bad” I did, even though all this was entirely my own misconstrued theology.
However, after my talk with God today, I realized that, almost seven months into being away from a church that so easily “molded” me into becoming a “good Christian girl,” I am now being the best I can be because I’ve realized that I DON’T HAVE TO FIT OTHER’S STANDARDS IN ORDER TO BE WHOLE IN GOD’S SIGHT!
Friend, other people should not be the determining factor of YOUR walk with Christ. Yes, developing others habits or gaining wisdom and insight on how to get better at studying or reading your Word or on praying is such a good gift that God has given us! However, HE is the one who has the final, ABSOLUTE say on whether what we’re doing is glorifying Him or not. We don’t have to squeeze ourselves so tiny to fit into someone else (who is not Christ)’s box in order to feel like we’re doing well on our walk with Christ! Society’s, and for that matter our own, labels of “measuring up” will NEVER be enough. As followers of Christ, we will be chasing the wind if we try to fit into someone’s labels that are too unattainable for us, wherever we may be on our walk with Christ. So, instead of labeling others, let’s let ourselves be flexible with God. Let’s let HIM overwhelm us with His plans for us and determine what glorifies Him, rather than what others say glorifies Him. Let’s genuinely live according to HIS standards He sets for us, rather than our own. If that means you only read a chapter of the Bible and get a five-minute prayer in before work, then so be it! If that means you wake up at 5 AM and pray and read your Word for an hour and a half before getting breakfast ready, then SO BE IT! Let’s all take a collective deep breath and remind ourselves that we are ALL on different parts of this journey with Christ, and we should be encouraging others and lifting them up in prayer on their behalf rather than looking down in a “holier-than-thou” way, simply because they do something a little different than we do.
// As a disclaimer, let me just remind y’all that I’m not excluding judging justly when it comes to our brother or sister living in sin, and us calling them out in order to seriously help grow them; this is a totally different topic that I do not want to get confused with the topic at hand, LOL. //
Here’s one last encouraging little nugget of wisdom that Peter gives us, saying:
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
So, friend, who are you going to let define you?
The world?
Other Christians?
Or the God who called you out of your brokenness and shame? Who claimed you as His and renamed you, stamping you with HIS approval?
Let’s choose to live in freedom, TODAY. Let’s choose to glorify Christ in the way that He sees fit, not the way others do. Let’s live, and love, like we are.
much love & more,
