Not Yet Me

Over the last year plus I've been on a journey to better health, working to exercise, eat right, lose weight. This week when observing my physical progress the phrase came to mind, "I'm not yet the me I want to be."

Originally I had in mind my body and how I hope to improve it even more, but then I realized it also applies to my whole personhood. I believe God isn't finished with me yet, "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6

I'm not yet the me I want to be.

I believe God has a marvelous me in mind, one totally conformed to the image of Christ. That won't be fully realized until I see Christ face to face in heaven, but I am holding on to hope that each day I get closer.

It's not that I have "backslidden" in the ways we usually think of that term, falling into some kind of sinful abyss. But I continue to struggle to be the fully selfless creation God expects of me.

I'm going to like me a lot more when I'm fully reformed. You are too. Meanwhile, I keep trying to make progress, hoping to be closer this day than last, this year than last. Thank the Lord for the patience, grace and mercy extended. God could give up on us all like he did those of Noah's generation, for every inclination of the human heart is toward evil. O to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be.

I look forward to that new me. Bring it on Lord.

Closest to God

Many gardens display this plaque, "One is closer to God in a garden, than anywhere else on earth." Certainly the peacefulness of a quiet place helps us focus on God and listen for God's voice. In that way, the saying holds true.

But biblically speaking, I'm not so sure. Creation starts in a garden, but ends in a city. Eden provided the first home for humanity, but God drove us from there in our sin, so we would not partake of the tree of life and live forever in our brokenness. When heaven is drawn for us in Revelation, we find the New Jerusalem, coming down from heaven as the Bride of Christ. A city.

People built cities to live together. Humanity is the crown of creation, as God created us in God's image, male and female. As creations in the image of God, inhabited by God's spirit, the more people around, the more we are present with God.

The noise of the city disturbs our quiet reflections, and yet God also loves the poor, so God is surely present in the squalor of urban despair.

We just need eyes to see. We easily see God in the beauty of plants and trees and flowers and swans swimming peacefully on a quiet pond. But if we really look with God's eyes, we will see God in the faces of every passerby on a city street, every child jumping rope in the alley, every elderly man sitting on a park bench, every woman dragging her children to the grocery.

We can find God anywhere we look. Try looking at your neighbors more closely.