Filed under: General
An interesting post as my thoughts drift toward my desired future ministry.
“All too often, our online identity is very different from our offline identity.Our Facebook status projects what we want others to think of us, not who we truly are. Our blog posts are shrouded in airs of intellectualism or edginess. We all face the temptation to project a false image of ourselves because we find the real image inadequate. If we are honest, the real image is nowhere near as attractive as we want it to be. We want to be more beautiful, more successful, more creative, more virtuous, more popular, and more intelligent than we actually are. We all have an image problem. The problem, however, is not that we lack beauty, success, creativity, virtue, popularity, or intelligence. The problem is that we believe the lie that obtaining those images will actually make us complete, happy, and content people.
Believing the lie, we fight rigorously to obtain (or retain) our image of choice. We discipline ourselves to lose weight, climb the vocational ladder, learn new techniques, make moral decisions, and strive to be in the know, all to gain the image we so desperately want. The image we believe will make us truly happy, content, and complete. We will fight with whatever it takes—money, time, sacrifice, overworking, and the occasional white lie. We fight and scrap to obtain our desired perception. Why? Because we believe that being perceived a certain way will make us truly happy. We believe a lie. We express faith in what is false. We depend on the undependable. Once we realize that we are building our identity on things that are untrue and unreliable, we can begin to sink our identity into what actually is true and reliable. This kind of image building moves us towards Jesus.
Christianity is about image. It affirms that we were created in God’s image (Gen 1:26-28), which was wrecked in our fall with Adam (Rom 5:12-21), and so desperately needs renewal in Jesus (2 Cor 3:18). The gospel restores and renews our image. It holds up the image of Jesus as most glorious and desirable (2 Cor 4:6) and aligns us with him. Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Col 1:15) and his face reflects the refulgent beauty and glory of God. The gospel is about correcting our vision and reshaping our image so that we can see and reflect “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor 4:4).”
(Dobson, Jonathan. Fight Clubs: Gospel-Centered Discipleship 14-15)
My last post came from the Labor & Delivery Room while my wife was sleeping (as a result of this amazing thing called an Epidural). In those moments leading up to the birth of Emery Grace I was, needless to say, lacking the ability to think clearly.
Since that day my wife and I have enjoyed the New Normal. We have logged a total of 2 months in our Parenting journey together that have been fraught with new challenges, interesting situations, a lack of real Parenting (really, do you actually parent a 9 week old?). I would like to say that I have undertaken this new responsibility like a duck takes to water (or like Emery to the Bottle) but I am painfully aware (at least at times) how irresponsible I have been or am being.
People ask how the past 2 months have gone. We respond that they have been pretty smooth. Emery is a happy baby who sleeps the vast majority of the night. She grins most of the time that I am home and makes the best noises when I sing my rendition of “A Peanut sat on a Railroad Track.” Amber and I were married for a month short of a year when she was born, but it is hard to imagine what it would have been like to not have her with us right now. Children really are a Blessing for God.
Personal failures now seem much larger now. Those things that I viewed as being bad habits or little hang-ups have become the battles that they should have been my entire life. Those areas of selfishness which appeared to me as entitlements now show to be a true hindrance to my marriage relationship. How do you correct 20+ years apathy? Only by God’s Grace…
