Living Out the Transformed Life: THE BIG IDEA!

Now that we have been freed to live our lives for Christ (see LOTL: Compelled), what are we to strive for?

2 Corinthians 5:16--"So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer."

All week I've talked about changing our perspective, the way we see others and the way we see Christ. But that "NO ONE" in the verse above covers one more group of people...ourselves. We can no longer see ourselves the way we want to or naturally do. We must now start seeing ourselves the way Christ sees us.

AND THIS IS THE FOUNDATION FOR

LIVING OUT THE TRANSFORMED LIFE!

So before we look at how Christ see us. Before we dig into who we really are. Let's spend one post on who we think we are. I think that there are roughly two groups. The lovers and the haters.

The LOVERS- think they are AWESOME! Awesome in relationships, awesome in business, awesome in life. If these people know the Lord, they are awesome at that too, and often fall into the trap that they only need Jesus to save them from hell, but in all other things they can handle it. They work hard at being the kind of person they are proud of. The Gospel is not always good news to these people (to me). Becoming poor to be blessed, all the good stuff you do is crap compared to the good stuff that Christ did, thinking about EVERYONE else as better than you. That is not exactly "good news". It's hard news, tiring news.

The HATERS-think they SUCK! Suck in relationships, suck in business, suck at life. If these people know the Lord, they know they suck at that too. They know they need God to come through for them not just in eternity but in all things. The trap they fall into though is they don't think God wants to. They see themselves as wrecks, how could a holy God ever love that. You would think the Gospel would be good news to them, but they don't (I don't) believe it. They are so consumed with their own self-hatred that they assign that feeling to God, and get lost in self-pity, self-focus.

We all have existed in both these groups-sometimes we straddle them with such ease that it is confusing to be in relationship with us. More than once my good friend Sarah, has looked at me confused and uttered, "you are such a contradiction." And I am. I am so prideful that I think I know better than most people, but I'm so self-conscious that anytime I give an opinion in a group I spend hours afterward beating myself up for speaking and sounding so stupid. I think I'm really cool and a blast to hang out with (I know all my for real cool friends are chuckling), but after a gathering I spend time thinking how lame I was and wondering why I have friends.

I can't move into becoming transformed if I am either of these two people. If this is the way I see myself, I view transformation either as another way to prove how great I am, or another thing that will push me from the arms of my God and confirm that I'm a loser.

So I need a better way to see myself in order to move into transformation. I need to know, really know how Christ sees me and then learn to live up to that view.

So how does Christ see us? Tune in tomorrow to find out!