Be who HE created YOU to be

God created each of us with a purpose. One of the things I have the hardest time with is being who HE created me to be and not what OTHERS think I should be. This even includes myself. Often times I think I am growing spiritually and becoming more like Christ and then I realize that I am striving to be what some other Christian is and I begin trying to mimic their life. God did not create us to strive to be like others. We are to strive to be like Him and only Him.

One of the greatest examples of this I got from a teaching by Jason Upton. He talks about how God uses the birds and the lillies as examples in the Bible because unlike humans, these things do not change. A redbird does not suddenly decide to act like a bluejay, just as a white lilly does not try to be a yellow daffodil. They simply are what God created them to be and what that is never changes. Though they may appear to look different in each season, their core remains the same.

I believe this is what Jesus wants us to do. He wants us to grow and to change and to become more like Him. However, He does not want us to get caught up in what He has called someone else to be. Essentially, He has called each of us to be the same, just like Him. Jesus wants our spirit to be the same over the years. In other words, while our physical appearance and mental abilities may go through changes, our spirits should remain the same. What I find so amazing is that He has already created us to be EXACTLY who He wants us to be. Unfortunately who that is has been warped and twisted by ourselves and the world. We get so caught up as humans on other people's expectations for our lives that we tend to forget what our original callings were. It is no surprise that when we reach adulthood we are usually doing something completely different than what we had dreamed about as kids. It's like to older we get, the more we give up our individuality and creativity and just settle for what the world dishes out to us. We begin to see our selvesas the world defines us versus who Jesus says we are.

It's no wonder that Jesus refers to little children so many times in the Bible to be examples for the rest of us. The faith of a child is one of the purest forms of faith there is. I agree with Jesus that we can learn a whole lot from children about what our identities truely are. Jesus used little children to demonstrate what the Kingdom of God is like.

Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. "Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." And He took them up in His arms, put His hands on them, and blessed them (Mark 10:13-16).

And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all." Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, "Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me (Mark 9:35-37)."

I guess we could all benefit from spending some time with children. I thank God everyday that He has blessed me with a job where I work with kids of all ages everyday. It has been such a learning experience to be able to watch kids everyday and to see how simplistic they make even the most complex tasks seem. Kids don't walk around in a masquerade rapped up in a facade created by others. They are who they are and they don't apologize or make any excuses for it. They remind me everyday that I need to be more like them and to be who God created ME to be. Praise God!