Un-Becoming What I Became

Do you ever feel like you are losing perspective? Losing sight of who you are? What you want to be doing? Who you wish to become?

The year 2020 has really made me ask all of these deep and at times, philosophical questions.

I am a Christian and not that I question who I am or whose I am, because when it comes down to it, I have those fundamental beliefs instilled in me. Yet I can still lose sight of them so easily.

I can become who I never wanted to be in the first place.

And that’s why I’m on a continuous journey to UN-BECOMING WHAT I BECAME.

You see, as a Christian, I was born into a life of darkness. Of sin. And yet, there is a Savior, Jesus Christ, who has washed away the darkness and has given me light in salvation. Who IS the light and who IS salvation. Yet daily I find myself becoming who I don’t want to be. Doesn’t this sound a bit like Paul in Romans?

Romans 7:15-20 says…

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

What habits have I picked up that are of this world? What desires do I dream of that in the end, won’t bring contentment? What kind of lifestyle am I living, that I have to un-become? What in my environment has influenced who I became, yet I need to un-become?

What doesn’t reflect who I am in Christ?

When I take the time and honestly look at myself, what comes to mind? What do I need to rid myself of so I can become who God created me to be in the first place? Again, the un-becoming of what I became?

The thing I struggle with is that in our current world, if others see a different viewpoint than us, we try to “help” them un-become it. And by “help”, I mean slander, talk negatively, degrade, and judge them because they haven’t become like us. My friend, we’ve got it all wrong. Now don’t get me wrong…I don’t think there is anything wrong about standing up for what you believe to be true. But what is TRUTH? Are you defending salvation, Christ, and the Bible, the same way you are defending all other cultural matters? This is where I have to un-become what I became.

It is not our duty to un-become everyone else and change everyone around us to look like us. We can be instruments, but the SPIRIT is the one who changes. NOT US. And in the end, God is going to judge ME for what I’VE done, not on how I thought everyone else should be living.

Politics. Masks. You name it. Most of us have thoughts on both. But are we going to let a piece of cloth divide us? I know, the issue has become more than a piece of cloth. But that’s the issue! We have allowed something of this world, to put an intense divide between us. Look at our churches! Politics. We are letting human authority divide us. I know, the issue has become more than just a person in office. But that’s the issue! We have allowed something of this world. to put an intense divide between us. Look at our churches!

You name the issue, fill in the blank, and repeat the above. Do we have a lot to learn? Absolutely. Do we have a lot to learn from each other? Absolutely. But in the end, it’s not the change in others that we should be striving after, but the own unbecoming of what we became.

Romans 2:1-3

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?

Romans 12:2-3

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

May we focus on our own un-becoming as we seek the truths of what the Bible teaches, and not the truths of the world. May we all un-become what we became.