I ask myself if Christ living in me has made me look more like him than others do. I don’t think this is mainly the case. What i wear, what i like to do, my sense of humor, the types of movies I like are probably very different than what Christ would have been like if he had been born these days.
On the surface i think we would look very little alike.
But i think Jesus is perfectly happy with this.
He let each of our our genetics and our experiences build us to be exactly the unique persons he wanted us to be. A heaven full of Jesuses might get boring. He doesn’t want us to be exactly like him, but he does, however, want us to be the best version of us he knows we can be.
So then i ask myself, am i really that different with Christ than without him. I don’t really seem that much different this week than last. Or even month to month.
But my mentor told me recently that i have grown so much since last year. I said, “REALLY?” It’s hard to see little changes, but maybe it’s also hard seeing changes in ourselves, just because our rubric of judgment moves as we do.
Have you noticed that when people talk about their grandparents, they usually describe them as either really great people, or really difficult ones? but among our young-adult-aged friends this judgment is usually less extreme. I think each day is a little step along a trajectory. And a day might not hold much change but think how much you grow in a year. Then multiply that amount of change by 80.
Picture how you’ve changed in one year, whether good or bad, and multiply it by 80. But then multiply it by 1,000,000. And ask your future self if you will be more at home in a place with stubborn, proud, defensive people or helpful, willing, kind ones.
So when i look at myself and evaluate if I really look more like Christ than people in my office or people walking on the street, i can say, well no, Jesus probably would have dread locks and i just can’t get the hang of wearing sandals. But I need to look at the subtle change in how i help people, or how often i talk behind backs, or embrace my little vices and extrapolate those habits into eternity. Then i need to ask myself if i am becoming the shining vision of a human being that Christ thought i was worth creating or a slightly selfish one… times a million.
Raw Spoon
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