Learning to See Ourselves Differently

Recently, I retook the StrengthsFinder 2.0 test and, honestly, I didn’t like my results. 5 years ago, when I took the test the first time, I felt like it was very accurate and was shocked at how it read my mail, so to speak. But this time I didn’t feel like it was correct and, even as I’m writing this, I’m not sure if I agree with it, but I’m closer to acceptance than I was before.

My whole life, I’ve seen myself a certain way and I like the way that I’ve seen myself. Even if I don’t like every part of me, I’m used to me and I don’t like the idea of me changing. But part of the joy of being a Christian is that we do change. Growth is a natural byproduct of following Christ.

The problem with growth is that you can’t respond to certain things like you have in the past, which means you have to come up with new responses—untried, untested responses. You have to be nice to that person you would’ve normally ignored or serve at church when you’d prefer to just slip in and out of service. This means building a relationship when you’d rather isolate or apologize when that’s the last thing you want to do.

How would a child of God respond in this situation?

This is a question I ask myself with some frequency. I know how I would naturally respond, but a lot of the time my response isn’t the best response. So, instead of doing things how I want, I’ll ask myself this question.

Some people ask “What would Jesus do?” and that’s a fine question, but if I ask myself that, I’ll try to be Jesus instead of being like Jesus which opens up a whole can of worms. But, if I focus on my identity (a child of God), and how I should respond, situations tend to turn out better than if I had just gone with what I wanted to do.

A child of God is confident in their position. They don’t need to earn or hoard love.
A child of God knows they are forgiven. They don’t need to flee when mistakes are made.
A child of God runs to the Father because the relationship is secure.
A child of God walks in peace, joy, hope, faithfulness, and self-control.

This list can go on forever, but I think you get the point.

In Christ, we are children of God, we have been reconciled with the Father and don’t have to try and earn his pleasure or his love. We don’t have to try to be anything other than we are. We don’t have to subscribe to some arbitrary behavior modification program but can embrace the reality of our position.

When I remember these things, changing doesn’t seem as scary. I don’t have to be worried about the person I’m becoming when I remember who I am.

What is your identity?

Do you hold any incorrect views of yourself that need to be changed?

To go Deeper: Read My Story, Follow the Cloud

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